


No Regrets

by Raptor_Red



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-15
Updated: 2015-09-12
Packaged: 2018-04-14 20:00:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 31,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4578006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raptor_Red/pseuds/Raptor_Red
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>No Regrets, or, the story of how Peridot tried to romance the blue-haired tattoo artist from the parlor across the street</p><p>(the rating has gone up because of chapter 10)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Peridot”

“.....Peridot”

“hey Perisnot”

You finally snap out of your thoughts, the old, terrible nickname grabbing your attention. As always. “How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that”, you groan, knowing perfectly well it won’t help.

“You just totally zoned out, did you even hear me come in?” Jasper says from across the counter and ignores your request. As always. Instead she reaches into the candy jar in front of her and grabs one or two candies, unwrapping them noisily.

“Those are for whiny children you know. And I don’t need to hear you, your stench always announces you to the whole room. Why do you never use the shower at the gym, or go home and shower there before you make yourself a threat to the general public like this.”

Jasper shrugs, “the one at the gym’s still broken. And I know you love every minute of my shining presence in your life that you can get.”

Admittedly, you do like it when Jasper decides to show up after her workout routine to come and pick you up after your shift ends, at least her riveting tales of how many pounds she stemmed on some hellish contraption this time still manage to be less boring than having to close up shop for the day all on your own.

You work at a small computer and phone repair shop, that also sells various electronic gimmicks, anything from batteries to single-use cameras to kitschy phone cases. It’s nothing to write home about but it pays the bills and you can get away with playing on your DS on slow days. Or staring out of the window at the other shop across the street from your place behind the counter. And of course Jasper caught you doing just that again when she entered.

She takes a look out of the shop window too now and you don’t need to see her face to know there’s that shit eating grin plastered all over her mug after just an instant.

“Oh look, it’s your blue gal again Peri”, Jasper says, taunting you.

“She’s not my blue gal, oh my god why do you always have to bring this up and stop pointing at her what if she sees us!”, you scramble to get Jasper to take down her pointing arm.

The “blue gal” in question is an artist from the tattoo parlor across the street, her hair dyed a bright cheery blue, hence Jasper’s nickname. The distance is too far to make out any motives but her arms are heavily tattooed. You’ve made a habit of watching her on her cigarette breaks, exactly three every day, each one about 10 or 15 minutes long. There isn’t really anything else to watch outside your window, so what if your eyes land on her, you always tell yourself to ease your conscience, you’re not being a stalker. Hopefully.

The girl doesn’t notice your and Jasper’s commotion and her break appears to be over, she snuffs out her cigarette in an ashtray sitting on the window sill next to her and goes back into the parlor.

Besides, you think, sometimes you also see the other tattoo artist, a short and chubby Latina woman, with a long purple mane. Maybe colorful hair is some kind of trademark symbol for them? She doesn’t smoke so you usually only see her when she arrives, goes to or comes back from lunch break or leaves after work, always before the blue haired one though.

“Tats All Folks” is the name of the parlor, written on the billboard in bold black letters over the door. The terrible pun never fails to make you cringe. One time you actually took a look at the shop windows and the art on display there but it was all only generic (and very sun bleached) tattoo flash, yet they don’t seem to have a shortage of customers, those keep walking in and out of the shop in steady intervals.

“I keep telling you, just go over there and ask for her number, what’d you got to lose?”

“My dignity?”

Jasper snorts, “you lost that when you turned into her freaky stalker. No wait, actually you lost it way back in first grade, when you peed your pants after drinking too much lemonade on my birthday party, oh boy remember that.” She bites down on the hard candy in her mouth and it makes a painful crunching sound.

“Thanks Jasper, that sure boosted my confidence, and you know I wasn’t allowed lemonade at home” You bury your face in your hands, hunch over the counter and dedicate the next 30 seconds to grumbling unintelligibly about your blatant homosexuality and the plight it dares to cause you on a daily basis, giving you crushes on girls you've never talked to and who you'd have no chance with anyways.

Jasper pipes up again, “look how about we make a bet. I say if you walk over there and ask her for her number, she will give it to you. Otherwise I’ll pay your bus tickets for the next week, how’s that sound?”

“Aren’t you supposed to bet against me?”

“No, because I believe in you, you gay little shit, also I'm about to throw up over this miserable display you're putting on." Then she walks to you, to your spot behind the counter, grabs your arm and pulls you unceremoniously to the shop door. "Now go!"

“And win all the points at sports? I’m going to tell on you to your coach for stealing his pep talk, I’m sure.”

Jasper rolls her eyes, crosses her arms and looks at you expectantly. You might have known her since you two were toddlers but this wall of 180 pounds of muscle makes a compelling argument. Not that she would punch you. Or not hard at least.

You sigh defeatedly, “fine. Give me 10 minutes.”

You flip the sign on the door to “sorry, we’re closed”, not too long until closing time anyways. You just hope Jasper doesn’t wreak havoc in the store while you’ve left it in her care. Then you adjust your big round glasses and try to make yourself look at least somewhat presentable. As presentable as one can look in jeans, a grey t-shirt and a dark green plaid flannel. You really should have plucked your eyebrows this morning instead of putting it off for yet another day. Same with bleaching your hair, your dark roots already cropping up in your hopefully not too messy hair again.

Whatever, if she doesn’t want you with your messy eyebrows she doesn’t deserve you with slightly less messy eyebrows either.

It’s a sunny late spring day and the street is quiet as you cross it, no surprise traffic appears to run you over and put you out of your misery. Probably would have been too much to hope for, you figure.

You open the door and cheerful chime rings to herald your entrance, to you it sounds like impending doom. Yeah okay maybe you’re being a little overdramatic.

You’re standing in a small entrance hall, there’s no one else here besides you so you take a moment to take in your surroundings. On the far side of the room is a table facing the door, with a computer, printer and several papers and notes strewn across it, next to is an open archway leading to a hallway or another room.

Closer to you stands a shelf with many books about art and other topics (like animals and sailing ships, likely for referencing purposes.)

And then there’s an old and comfy looking black leather couch with a matching black coffee table in front of it, the color of the table is barely visible anymore however, it’s almost completely covered in stickers of all kinds, many promotional ones from tattoo conventions or other parlors but also silly ones like skulls, fuzzy kittens -of course you reach out and touch it, no one can resist a fuzzy sticker- Lisa Frank dolphins, various meme faces -oh god why- and a large crying waffle for some reason?

The real eyecatcher of the room is one of the walls though. The other three are painted red but one is -much like the coffee table- barely visible. It’s covered from floor to ceiling with of what appear to be tattoo lineart stencils on white paper, not the generic stuff like in the shop window, but unique ones with character.

You take a closer look and after a while you can tell two different drawing styles apart, one a little more cartoon-y yet still realistic, the other what you think is called old school -think swallows and daggers and anchors- You like that one a little more so you continue looking for motives drawn in that style, and you can’t help but snort at what people decide to put on their bodies, there’s three Darth Vader’s holding each other’s hands and dancing, a portrait of the bald guy from Breaking Bad whose name you can’t remember right now surrounded by flowers, a skeleton on a motorcycle playing an electric guitar and many many other things. You could spend an hour taking all the motives in but that’s not what you’re here for after all so you turn around again.

Into the lion’s den it is then -the lion being a slender girl Jasper could probably carry around using only her pinky finger- you think nervously and go for the open hallway. The walls here are painted white but somehow they made it look like blood was running downwards on them from the ceiling with red paint. They sure went all out with the interior design in this place.

There’s three doors, two on the right, one on the left and all of them closed. Before you can start fretting over on which one to knock, the door to your left opens and out walks ~~your~~ the blue haired girl, she looks a bit surprised when she spots you, but friendly. “Oh Hello, I knew I heard the door chime, can I help you?”

All the shitty and even more shitty conversation starters you had prepared in your mind seem to have disappeared without a trace, leaving you empty-brained and on the verge of panic. Great. But then -and you will thank it for that forever afterwards- you remember the skeleton on a motorcycle on the entrance hall wall and you say with the least amount of stuttering possible, “I, uh, yes I’m, here because I would like to get a tattoo.”

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“You’re in luck, I don’t have another customer scheduled until an hour so we can discuss what you would like to get right now if you want.” She says as she leads you back to the entrance hall and the comfy couch

“I think I recognize you, you work at the electronics store across the street, right? I see you through the window sometimes, I was hoping you’d say hi sometime. My name is Lapis by the way, Lapis Lazuli, but just call me Lapis.”

(Part of you wants to scream in horror about the fact that she probably saw you staring, multiple times. The other part of you is jumping with joy because she wanted you to introduce yourself all this time and you never knew.)

The urge to wipe your sweaty palm on your shirt is strong, but you resist and shake her hand bravely and give her your name as well.

“Have a seat”, she offers then. So you do and you think the couch might be possessed, you sink right into it, as if it wanted to eat you alive. It doesn’t seem to be hungry for Lapis however, she just plops down next to you comfortably, with a pen and notebook she had grabbed from the computer table. Ready for business.

Lapis crosses her legs and her light summer dress rides up a little, her legs are tattooed as well, you notice, you can see the tail of a fish or mermaid starting at her ankle before disappearing under the fabric. it’s red color contrasting starkly against her tan brown skin. You realize you’ve made a grave mistake coming here, seeing her up close confirms your bad premonitions, she’s really cute. Her eyes are bright even though she looks a little tired and her hair looks incredibly soft. Definitely too cute for you.

“Sooo, this’ll be your first tattoo, right?”

“Yes, how did you know?”, you wonder. For all she knew you could have a donkey on your left buttcheek.

“Just a feeling. Alright then tell me, what did you have in mind and where?”, she looks at you attentively, excited even. As if no matter what kind of inane bullshit you’ve come up with, she’d love to permanently put it on your body. You remember the motorcycle skeleton once again. Good to know there are still at least some people out there who genuinely like their jobs.

And also, well, there’s the fault in your last-second ingenious plan, you have no idea what you would want as a tattoo on your body. Not that you had ever wanted a tattoo at all in the first place until you blurted it out to Lapis a minute ago.

“Actually, I have no idea.” Smooth.

At least better than stammering around for a minute as you’d have tried to come up with something you would have regretted anyways.

Her smile falters, “Did you lose a bet?” _No, I think I’m winning one right now._

“What, no of course not! I guess maybe, I just want to change something about my appearance?”

Lapis taps the end of the pen against her closed mouth, thoughtfully. “Well, I don’t think every tattoo needs a deeper meaning or backstory, but it can’t hurt to go through stuff that matters to you first. What are your hobbies, maybe we can use something from one of them?”

Reading crappy genre fiction, especially science-fiction, and playing video games until dawn, taking turns at annoying Jasper and getting annoyed by her and yelling at people with shitty opinions on tumblr. You make a mental note to get more interesting hobbies as soon as possible.

You don’t tell her that, instead you fiddle with your own fingers in your lap for a moment, then you look up at Lapis again “Yeah I.... No I don’t think so. I think I’m just wasting your time after all, I’m sorry, I should go.”

You start to fight your way up from the hold the couch still has on you but before you can get up Lapis says: “No wait just a moment please. So you’re one hundred percent sure you really want to get a tattoo? You just don’t know what motive to get?”

“Yes.” You surprise yourself because you didn’t even hesitate an instant before answering.

Lapis gaze rests on you, its intensity makes you a little uncomfortable. Then she seems to have decided on something, she gets up (easily. How did she not get sucked into the couch crevice, she must weigh as much as air.) and tells you: “Wait here Peridot. Just a second!”

She leaves the room through the archway then comes back in a minute later, now with an A3 sized manila folder under her arm.

Sitting back down on the couch she sets the folder down on the coffee table before you, but doesn’t open it yet. “Maybe we can help each other out”, Lapis says. Okay now you’re really curious about the contents of that folder.

She continues, “Did you take a look at our wall?” She points behind herself at the hundreds of tattoo stencils plastered on there. You nod in response.

“I specialize in the old school style and it relies heavily on bold linearts, there’s colors sure, but it’s mostly about the lines. I’ll always stay true to it but I also want to develop and learn new things. I want to learn how to _paint_ on someone with my needles.

Here’s where you come into play, if you agree to it, of course! Basically, I need someone to practise on, but the people who walk in here already know what they want, and I’m known for my old school stuff so it’s usually something to do with that. I’ve prepared a piece that would work great for this and that I’d love to see on someone”

Now Lapis finally opens the folder, she thumbs through several pages and you get glimpses of her finished art, not just the lines this time and she didn’t lie, she seems to stay true to her old school style no matter the motive. There’s a colorful bouquet of roses in a vase, some kind of crest with a lion curling around a cradle and a page with all kinds of sea creatures.

Then she finds what she was looking for and sets a large sheet of paper down in front of you. It’s in portrait format and your first thought is _It’s a window to space_ and really, it’s not an exaggeration. Save for a roughly two inch frame left white the page is filled with a large rectangle, outlined in thick black lines and filled with -in saturated watercolors- a painting of outer space, like something the Hubble space telescope might have snapped.

You spend several minutes to take it all in, it’s colorful but not garish, the background mostly black or a pleasant darker purple. The upper half of it dominated by a nebula in brighter purple and pink and even some blue-ish green, several planets in a steely blue sitting in the lower right corner -with great attention paid to their rocky surfaces- and clusters of stars painted in white gouache and of course more and more stars as bigger or smaller white dots speckled over the whole painting. Really, a window to space.

“What do you say? I was thinking in the middle of your back, from the shoulder blades to your hips.” Lapis sounds eager for your judgment, she’s inched a little closer to you and to the edge of the couch while you admired her artwork.

“Wow. I.. Wow.” What an incredible way with words you seem to have today, truly.

“It’s amazing, really, and it’s huge. I don’t think I’d even have the money to afford this.” You don’t really know how much tattoos this size -or any size- cost but your guess would be A Fuckton.

“Oh don’t worry about that, since I’d be getting something out of it too it would be unfair to charge you fully. Let’s say you pay the price for the inks? That would be about, hmm, 50 to 70 dollar?”

You can’t help but raise an eyebrow at Lapis. “So what’s the catch then?”

“The catch?”

“You’re telling me that you’ll give me a gorgeous tattoo for, I don’t know, a tenth of the money its actually worth and expect me to not think there’s some sort of catch? Like maybe, you drawing a huge dick on my back instead of this painting?”

Lapis giggle-snorts at that. Oh no, it sounds adorable. “No dicks, I promise. There’s always the chance I’ll botch it up and it’ll look like an enormous, perfectly square bruise so you’d have to trust me. And not sue me if I do botch it up.”

You had considered that risk. However, looking at the painting, her other art and how dedicated Lapis seems to be to her work you think that, yes, you can trust her with your literal skin.

“Deal?” She holds out her hand to you again and you take it with a little more confidence than earlier

“Deal.”

Lapis sucks in some air suddenly “Now i almost forgot about my next customer, I think they’ll be here any second! Do you mind coming in tomorrow to make an appointment? I’d have to check my calendar first.”

“That’s fine with me, I can come in after I finish work.”

“Great, I think it’s better that way too, so you can sleep a night on it, that’s what my mentor always said ‘no drunks, no kids, no rash decisions’, now hold on”

Lapis gets up once again, walks quickly to the computer desk and starts rummaging between the mess of papers on it. She finds a stack of business cards, takes one and scribbles something on the back before she comes back to hand it to you (you’ve managed to extricate yourself from the couch in the meantime)

You take the card almost like it’s a holy relic, then you flip it over and on the back it reads in swirly handwriting " _Lapis Lazuli_  "and underneath,

her mobile phone number.

“Just call or text if you have any questions. And thanks for agreeing to this, I’m really looking forward to our first appointment!”

Lapis gives you a small but genuine smile.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two minutes later you’re standing in front of the parlor again -the door chime didn’t sound so ominous this time- You don’t know if you want to scream or laugh, so instead you just take a deep breath. _Just what the fuck had you let yourself in for here?_

You cross the street again and find Jasper waiting for you in front of the shop.

“What the hell did you do in there, you’ve been gone for an hour?”, she says incredulously.

Holding up the business card you answer, “Looks like you won our bet.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, baby’s first fanfic! Or, uh, baby’s first any creative writing, really. Now before you click that back button I’m asking you for some feedback! English isn’t my first language and I don’t have any experience with writing but I want to improve!!! So any comments and/or criticism is highly appreciated, even if it’s just a simple “u suck”
> 
> Also, I couldn’t find a nice way to fit this into the fic but Peridot is Korean in this, Lapis is mixed race (half Pacific islander, half white) and Jasper is black and has vitiligo where her stripes are in canon.
> 
> The interior design of the tattoo parlor is based on one I frequent, with some adjustments (not the tattoo stencil examples on the wall Peridot looks at though -the motorcycle skeleton for example-, those are very much the same irl)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alternative title: Peridot Suffering Time

[ _Does it hurt?_ ] 

You know you’ll be seeing Lapis in a couple hours, after your shift ends, but you just had to text her something, she had given you her number and told you to ask any questions you might have after all. 

Fixing this busted laptop you’re working on right now takes you over half an hour, even though it’s just a simple case of dust-jammed fan, because you keep checking your phone for Lapis’ reply. 

[ _What answer are you expecting? ;-P_ ] 

[ _let me rephrase then, how much would you say it’s going to hurt on a scale from getting flicked on the nose to falling into a volcano?_ ]

[ _Hmmmmm, about as much as having someone punching ink into your dermis with a needle at high speed._ ]

You groan, _a little smartass_ , huh? Another message pops up right away:

[ _Sorry that wasn’t helpful. It’s hard to say, everyone is different! There’s more painful places to get your first tattoo, like belly or ribcage, but there’s less painful ones too. There’s lots of bones right under your skin on your back and tattooing on bones is never nice. Guess you’ll have to find out for yourself how much it really hurts, unless you’ve decided to back out? That would be ok btw_ ]

[ _I’m not backing out now, I’ve made my decision, beauty must suffer and all that I guess_ ]

[ _Don’t worry, you’ll be fine -a thumbs up emoticon- I have to get back to work now, see you later then!_ ]

Setting your phone back down you get back to work yourself, 2 more hours until closing time.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6 PM finally arrives and you can pack up your things and make the trek across the street once again. (Well it might have been more around 5:50 PM but anyone with a sudden bad case of bluescreen would just have to wait until tomorrow morning to be saved. And you don’t see anyone running for your shop door as you look over your shoulder before entering the tattoo parlor once more.)

Like last time, Lapis isn’t there but someone is sitting at the computer on the other side of the room, you almost hadn’t seen the other girl, she’s small enough to be hidden completely behind the computer screen, but you hear her munching on something quite noisily. You recognize her as the other tattoo artist working here, you don’t know her name, though. 

She however does see you immediately , she looks up and waves at you before yelling, “LAAAAAAAPIS, your guinea pig is heeeere!” 

You come closer, she grins at you and wipes cookie crumbs sticking to her fingers on her shirt before shaking your hand with a little too much enthusiasm, “The name’s Amethyst, come to me next time you want an actually rad tattoo. And you’re-"

“The guinea pig, apparently. Hi, I’m Peridot, and I’ll keep that in mind.”

Amethyst laughs, “Still can’t believe she finally found a taker for that beast. Lapis is gonna put space all over everyone one day, look she got me too.” she turns around a little so you can take a look at her upper left arm, between cupcakes and a cheshire cat you find a painted tattoo of the moon with a bit of starry background, all in all it’s about the size of your palm and it looks nice but you can see why Lapis wants to try her hand at a bigger canvas. 

That canvas being your entire back, you remember. Right. 

Then Lapis comes into the room, she must have heard Amethyst, she greets you before plucking a cookie from Amethyst's plate, who protests loudly.

“So about your appointment, I have two options for you, either you wait two weeks for my next free slot….”

“Or?” _Ugh, two weeks?_ You’re kinda banking on the other option because you think you’ll have lost the nerve to go through with this by that time.

“Or you bite the bullet right now! My last customer for today cancelled, fell down the stairs, poor guy. But that means I’m free for the rest of the day.”

You worry your bottom lip with your teeth. Even Amethyst has perked up again from her snack and whatever she’s doing on that computer, she’s smiling at you a little (very) smugly, _does this greenhorn have the guts?_ Lapis meanwhile looks neutral, you know she’s excited about this project but she takes care not to make you feel pressured. 

Right now, thats. Really soon. _No shit_. You swallow but you know you’ve already decided.

“Sure let’s do it now, I don’t have anything planned for tonight”, you answer lamely, yeah it’s not like you have ten hot dates lined up waiting for you outside.  
Lapis claps her hands, “Cool! I already have most of what I need prepared so we can go right to my room!” 

“That’s what she said.” Amethyst interjects around a mouthful of cookie.

Lapis has already pulled you halfway to her room and she doesn’t even turn around to give Amethyst a come back, “At least I’m getting some~!” 

“Hey I don’t see you getting paid hella money to draw a giant burning floating skull on someone’s chest in half an h-”

 

The rest of Amethyst’s sentence is cut short as you’ve reached Lapis’ room and she closed the door behind you. You realize their banter was pure joking but. You hope Lapis doesn’t notice the blush that’s crept up your face. 

“So is Amethyst always this….charming?” 

“Haha, yes always. I wouldn’t trade her for anyone, besides, on bad days I can still steal from her snack stash.” Lapis makes a little all-encompassing gesture. “Welcome to my torture chamber, make yourself at home while I get ready!”

Lapis has her back on you now, she’s standing by a wooden table in the far side corner of the room and is busy fiddling with some paints or equipment or something like that. 

Lapis’ room is smaller than the entrance hall, the flooring black and white checkered tiles, the walls painted a light grey (you’re glad she didn’t continue the dripping blood aesthetic from the hallway walls in here…) There’s a dark wooden bookshelf with more reference nature and art books, a large, framed standing mirror and a -obviously salvaged- old dark red recliner sitting in another corner of the room.

You think the term “torture chamber” might not be so off, it smells strongly like antiseptic in here and next to you is some kind of adjustable cot thing, it doesn’t look uncomfortable -it’s upholstered with faux black leather- but it doesn’t look particularly inviting either considering you know what happens to people laying on it. The small stainless steel trolley with various ointments and Lapis’ tattoo needles laying on it doesn’t help matters either, you suppress a shudder and take a look at the wall to your right instead.

On there you find more art, each piece unique and carefully framed. More old school stuff but also an A4 painting of Lapis? Yeah, you’re pretty sure it’s Lapis except the lighting the artist chose made her skin look blue along with her hair, she looks pretty dramatic, standing with her eyes closed and her arms wide over something that makes you think “alien ocean landscape with menacing clouds”. In the bottom right corner you find a scrawled dedication reading “ _For the Water Witch. G.Q-U._ ”  
You turn around to Lapis who is squirting paint from a small plastic paint bottle into an even smaller plastic paint cap. You ask her while pointing to the wall behind you with your thumb, “These pieces don’t look like your style, who drew them?”

Lapis looks up at you briefly before concentrating on her task again, “They’re gifts from friends, or artists I admire. I got most of them while visiting other parlors or while artists from other parlors visited us. Tattoo artists do this sometimes, like some kind of student exchange. Oh, the one you’re standing in front of right now is from my mentor, though.”

You’d like to learn more about it, about her mentor and why they’re calling her Water Witch in this one, but you don’t press it for now, figuring if Lapis had wanted to elaborate further, she would have done so.

You examine the wall once more and to the left of the water witch painting you find -a children’s drawing? It’s framed in a colorful frame with starfish and crabs on it and shows two scribbly figures -one taller with blue hair, who must be Lapis again, and one smaller, maybe the kid who drew it?- holding hands on a beach, with a sun wearing shades in the sky over them and the words “ _BEACH SUMMER FUN BUDDIES_ ” underneath.

Before you can ask Lapis about this particular masterpiece she announces “Ok all done! We can start now, if you’re ready.”

“Ready as I will ever be to have someone totally not draw a huge dick on my back permanently.”, you say, sarcasm in your voice.

“I told you there will be no dicks. But I might just change my mind if you keep bringing it up.”

“That’s _not_ reassuring Lapis.”

“Sorry sorry. Ok then, well, there’s no real tactful way to say this but I need you turn around and take off your shirt and unclasp your bra for me.”

You knew this would come eventually, of course you did, but that still doesn’t make undressing from the waist up in front of her any easier. Glad that she can’t see your red face that way you turn your back to her and start doing as Lapis requested, you force yourself to move calmly. Suddenly you wish you had taken up Jasper’s offer to accompany her to the gym sometime. Too late for that now. 

You cross your arms in front of your chest and hold your bra in place by doing so, giving you at least some amount coverage. 

Lapis steps closer to you, you don’t need to see her to know this, the now bare skin on your back picks up the movement of the air as she walks.  
“Ok this’ll feel a bit cold”, she says, then you can hear a _ffssshh_ sound you can’t quite place and _then_ you make a face as Lapis starts applying something cold and foamy to your back. Some kind of preparation ointment? 

After she’s done with that she grabs something else from the table behind her and

….and starts shaving your back with a disposable razor? _What the hell?_

“Lapis, are you shaving my back?"

“Obviously.”

“Uh, why? Are you telling me my back is hairy?” You’re too flabbergasted to feel self-conscious right now.

“Like a Yeti.” She snorts at her own joke, then explains, “there’s small hairs all over your body, they’re barely visible but I need to get rid of them before I can tattoo you, everyone has these, so no need to sound so offended.”

“Oh, I see.” 

After she’s done with this, she wipes off the excess foam with paper towels carefully. 

“I’ll be applying the stencil now so please hold extra still for a moment.” You hold your breath, of course this has to be the moment you realize just how close Lapis is standing to you, you can feel her breathing against you.

Then she slowly places a large piece of paper against your back, it’s moist but not as cold as the shaving foam, sprays it with some liquid -likely water, you guess this works like applying a temporary tattoo- and pulls it off again, as slowly as she put it on.

“There we go. You can take a look at it in the mirror now, if you don’t like the placement we can still redo it now.”

Still holding your bra in place with your crossed arms you step closer to the large standing mirror and crane your neck as far as you can to look at the black lines on your back. There aren’t that many of those, you notice, only the geometric rectangle outline stretching from your shoulder blades down to about where your navel is on your front, circles for the planets and very thin lines for the stars. It looks like the lines of a coloring book. One that leaves a lot of space for imagination to the kid that gets to fill them in with colors.

The placement looks just right to, so you tell Lapis that.

She’s wearing black latex gloves now, must have put them on while you were staring at yourself in the mirror, and sitting on a low rollable stool she must have pulled from underneath the wooden table, as you pay attention to her again. _And she’s picked up her tattooing needle._ She looks calm and like she’s truly in her element now, you realize you aren’t nearly as nervous as you were before anymore. You don’t know if it’s because of your earlier adrenaline rush abating or because of Lapis’ calmness spreading to you.

“Alright Peridot, last exit before leaving empty skin town. If you want to back out, now’s your last chance.”

You blow a strand of hair that’s fallen into your face away with a gust of breath since your arms are still otherwise occupied, “Told you I’m not backing out...Let’s do this.”

“Let’s do this.” Lapis smiles, then rolls away from the cot to give you room to lower yourself on it. You cross your arms in front of your head, then rest your forehead on the makeshift elevated position. 

“Oh one last thing, would you care for some music while I work?”

You stop yourself from shrugging so you don’t let your squashed bra slip out of position underneath you, instead you just answer, “sure why not.”

Lapis gets up to turn on an old CD player sitting on the wooden table. You look up at her with raised eyebrows a few moments after the first notes of the song play. “ABBA? Really?”

“What? It’s fun and relaxing and everyone likes it.”

“My taste in music begs to differ. Also, I just can’t imagine some beefy motorcycle gang dude getting tattooed on here while ABBA plays and him liking it.”

“Oh, you’d be surprised. Besides,”, Lapis goes on,”if you wanted some Iron Maiden with your inking experience, you should have gone to Amethyst.”

“Never mind then.”

You lower your head again and then Lapis is starting for real, her needle coming to life with a loud buzzing noise. It starts and stops a few times, as she’s testing it or picking up paint from one of the small caps on the steel trolley next to her.

“Hope you’re ready.” She gently pulls the patch of skin between your shoulder blades taut with one hand and then it’s _happening_ , you tense.

Lapis was right, the pain is hard to compare to anything you’ve ever felt before, it’s hot and white and electric and _intense_ , your mind is blank, you can’t focus on anything but the path of Lapis’ needle. 

But it’s bearable too, you think. You can actually feel the vibrations of it rattling your bone as Lapis continues the outline toward your shoulder blade.

And then it’s gone again. Lapis has to pick up more ink, which gives you the chance to take a deep breath. You hadn’t evenrealized you were holding it.

“You doing okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah, you can go on.”

Lapis and you develop a rhythm, you take a deep breath when she stops to pick up new ink or wipe excess one off with a kitchen towel, and slowly let it out as she presses down on your back with the needle and her other hand, never longer than you can handle at a time. The gentleness and warmth -you can feel it through her glove- of her left hand in stark contrast to the hot-hot-hot sharpness of the needle as it moves across your body.

Neither of you talks for the most part, but the silence -as far as it can be called silence, it’s filled with the buzz of the needle and the best of ABBA after all- isn’t uncomfortable. You kind of lose track of the time, it could have been ten minutes that’s passed, or over an hour.

Then, after a ten-minute-or-an-hour eternity, Lapis stops for longer and you can hear her setting the needle down completely. She sprays some kind of disinfectant on you, it doesn’t burn, the opposite actually, it feels pleasantly cool against your skin, you picture it steaming as it gets hit by the liquid, it seems so hot and burning to you. 

“I’ve finished the black parts and I’d like to get the dark purple done today too, but it’s up to you. We’ll need more than this one appointment anyways, I’m thinking two or three, so it’s no problem if we get to the purple next time. What do you think? Do you want to stop for today or go on?”

You breathe for a moment, you think you’re nearing your limit but you aren’t quite there yet. And yeah okay, maybe you want to look tough in front of Lapis.

Looking up at her you reply,”We can go on.” 

“Alright brave warrior, I need to change needles and that ointment needs to soak in for a few minutes so you can just relax for now. Oh wait, I’ll be right back.” 

Lapis leaves the room and you take the chance to sit up and roll your shoulders, all your muscles are stiff from tensing and laying in the same position for so long. You hiss as the movement disturbs your tender back.

The door opens again so you quickly lay back down once more but now you’re facing the room, your cheek resting on your crossed arms, not your forehead. Lapis is back and she sets a glass of water down on the steel trolley next to you. 

“Drink up.” She orders and turns her back on you again as she sets to change her needles while standing at the wooden table.

You gladly do so, the glass is empty in a minute because you really were quite thirsty.

Setting it down again with a _clink_ you suddenly notice that you’ve heard the song playing now today already, the CD must have looped back to the beginning, _how long have you been in here?_

Lapis casually scratches the back of one of her calves with the ankle of her other foot before she starts whistling happily along to the song, you recognize it as _Honey Honey._

“If I could time travel I’d go to one of their concerts, it’s the first thing I’d do.” She's stopped whistling to tell you, so Lapis is in a chatty mood again.

“What about you, what’d you do if you could time travel?”, she continues. “I mean, besides the obvious stuff, like preventing world wars.”

You’ve never been asked something like this before. Closing your eyes again you answer,”I dunno. Hold young Bill Gates at gunpoint and tell him to give me all his computer knowledge, then make billions selling it instead of him?”

“Wow boring. Ok admittedly, holding someone at gunpoint isn’t boring but I mean, what’s something that you’d like to see?”

You breathe again. Thinking. Taking longer to answer this time.

“Hmm, I think I’d like to see the launch of the Apollo 11 space flight. And then the moon landing live on TV, assuming it wasn’t all just a ruse by the government. Or if I can travel to the future, I’d like to see footage of the first human landing on Mars.”

Lapis turns to you again, leaning against the edge of the table,”I think I’d like to see that too, I’d come along for those trips.”

She sits down on the stool again, finished with her needle changing business. “Ok enough chit-chat, back to the finish stretch, for today at least.”

And then the dreaded needle is on you again, the pain is getting worse and worse now as your skin is becoming quite raw in some places. Once more you don’t know how much time has passed and you tell yourself _in a minute I’ll ask Lapis to stop_ , over and over again, it becomes your mantra, but you never actually do it. 

And finally, _finally!_ Lapis announces, “Finished!” and you deflate completely on the cot, _thank god._

Everything after that happens much faster, she’s spraying more disinfectant on you then helps you stand up and walk to the mirror. You proceed to crane your neck again like you did the first time and you can’t help but smile proudly. It’s far from finished but you can see it taking shape now, about a quarter of the rectangle is filled with black -with empty spots left for the stars- and another quarter, but more in patches, with dark purple. Blending with the black in some places.

“It looks great so far, I can’t wait to see it finished.” And you mean what you say.

Lapis thanks you...a little bashfully?

She explains to you how to take care of it during the healing period while she wraps your back in saran wrap, then she closes your bra clasp for you and helps you put on your shirt -oh great, you’re blushing again-.

“How’s it feel?”

“I feel like a sandwich.”, you tell her. _A pained sandwich._ The saran wrap is squeaking slightly with every breath you take.

“Fresh then, I see. Good good.”

Lapis accompanies you to the door of her room and then of the parlor itself, holding them open for you. 

“You did really well today, you know. I didn’t expect you to make it through all the dark purple.”, she says quietly while you stand in the doorway. It’s gotten dark outside by now. 

“Pshh, it was nothing, really”, your voice cracks, betraying you. 

Lapis smirks, “Sure thing, brave warrior. Come back soon so I can see how it heals, and so we can talk about your next appointment.”

“Will do and...", you trail off, not sure of what you want to say. "Goodnight.” is what you settle on. 

“Goodnight.”, Lapis answers. 

She starts closing the door and you turn to leave, to catch the next bus home, but you think you might have seen her giving you a wink out of the corner of your eye, but the door is closed as you turn around again. _No, that can’t be_ , you shrug it off and start walking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again, and first of all, thank you all who left a comment encouraging me, I want to print them all out :) Like last time though, newbie and non-native speaker here and I'm grateful for any concrit!!!!
> 
> About this chapter: Lapis' also enjoys Florence + the Machine and the Kill Bill soundtrack music wise, besides good 'ol ABBA. Peridot likes some good stuff like Daft Punk or Kraftwerk but letting her pick the music in the car is still playing Russian Roulette because she also listens to the weirder stuff by Penderecki. For fun. 
> 
> Oh and I hope my descriptions haven't scared anyone away from getting a tattoo! If you've been considering one: *Amethyst voice* DO IT
> 
> Great way to impress small children and a sure way to piss off most parents!
> 
> Also, don't expect the next chapter as soon as tomorrow as I actually have other things to do. Like working. Or feeding myself.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello, hi, a little PSA: I know the saran wrapping thing to cover a healing tattoo is kind of disputed (same with whether it's good to put vaseline on it or THE WORST THING) there's as many opinions as there are artists probably, I just went with what mine told me and I've always been fine. If your artist is experienced and tells you something different, you should probably listen to them too. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

The next morning, you wake up to soft, early sunlight shining into your room, illuminating valleys and mountains of fabric on your crinkled sheets and blankets. You hadn’t bothered with the blinds last night, choosing instead to fall right on your bed and asleep after you’d come home exhausted from your first ever tattoo session. 

You regret this deeply now, as the sun doesn’t seem to be stopping glaring cheerfully into your face any time soon. _Disgusting_. Turning the other way won’t help anymore either, since you’re already awake now. 

Blinking blearily, you sit up slowly, put on your glasses and turn your head first left, then right as far as you can to help loosen your tense neck muscles. You had to sleep on your belly all night so that you wouldn’t put your entire body weight on your fresh, still aching tattoo for such a long time, as a result, a large, dark spot has formed on your pillow where you drooled all over it. Today was just not going to be your day you think while you stare at your abused pillow. Then again, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, today was your free day and you thank every god out there, real or not, that you don’t have to go to work in your current state, you’d probably manage, but it’s still a relief that you don’t have to. 

You get out of bed and make it to the tiny bathroom of your flat, then you get to peeling off the saran wrap covering your back. Lapis had told you to keep it on during the night, remove it in the morning and to carefully wash your skin with lukewarm water to clean it. You examine your now uncovered tattoo in the mirror over your sink. It doesn’t look too bad to you, not infected or awfully reddened. It’s still a little gross though, there’s a slight sheen of sweat and excess ink that has seeped back out of your skin all over the area, as it had tried to get rid of the foreign pigments. 

Despite this, you can’t help but admire yourself a little longer -quite the rare occurrence for you- as you remember the pain you had to make it through for this ink to be where it is now. Before you can stop yourself, your mind wanders to Lapis. You’ve seen her tattoo covered arms, and parts of her calves, she very likely has more images on her body in other places, you wonder if she gets a little vain too after a new addition. _She probably looks incredible when naked._

You shake your head and scold yourself, you really should get started on the cleaning routine Lapis had tasked you with, not waste time with letting your thoughts wander down a path they clearly shouldn’t. 

You fill the sink with warm -but not hot- water and…

and realize that you are an utter idiot.

The tattoo is in the middle of your back and while you might be able to reach most parts at least with your fingertips, it’s not enough to properly clean and take care of it. You aren’t a contortionist, after all -not that you don’t try at first, it would have been a hilarious thing to behold if anyone had been there to see it-.

After admitting defeat to the limitations of your disappointment of a flesh vessel you walk back to your room to fetch your phone instead (it’s a kind of everything-in-one dealy, bedroom, living room and a tiny kitchenette at once. Working at a computer repair shop doesn’t quite pay for a mansion but hey, you like it here well enough) 

“Jasper, I know your shift doesn’t start until 11, you need to come over and help me with, uh, something. It’s kind of your fault in the first place so you owe me.”, you leave her a voice message as she doesn’t pick up. Probably still on her morning run.

You set to prepare yourself something to eat -instant ramen, a balanced breakfast-, and after you’ve eaten you see Jasper has replied to your message: 

[ _be there in 20_ ]

You use that time to wash your face and brush your hair and teeth as well as put on some sweatpants. You skip the bra and shirt, instead you grab a towel to cover your chest with. It’s nothing Jasper hasn’t seen before, -summer camp in seventh grade, or, puberty beats boundaries- but still.

And soon enough, your doorbell rings and there is Jasper standing on your doorstep. She comes in and closes the door behind her, staring a little bewildered at your weird get-up. 

“Alright Peri, I know you hate doing the laundry but you got to have at least one clean t-shirt left around here somewhere.” 

Instead of explaining you just roll your eyes and turn your back to her, she knew about your ill-advised plan to get a tattoo from Lapis, of course you told her about it and the motive you’d be getting but she didn’t know it would happen so soon. 

“NO way! You really went through with it!” 

"It's not like you tried to stop me, you know." True, a good friend would have talked sense into you, but Jasper was your best friend. 

You shriek loudly then before turning around quickly to face her again, “Don’t poke it!!!”

“Yeah yeah, also no offense, but this doesn’t look like space to me at all. It’s just all black and purple.” 

“It’s not finished yet, obviously. And before you ask, yes it hurt. Like hell. And”, you continue, letting your shoulders fall defeatedly, ”would you help me clean and bandage it? I can’t do it on my own.”

Jasper snorts, “Sure thing. What do I gotta do?”

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ten minutes later, you’re both sitting on your -quickly de-cluttered- couch. After the cleaning part was done in front of the bathroom sink, you had decided to relocate somewhere comfier for the bandaging part, so now you’re sitting cross-legged in front of Jasper, your back to her while she tapes gauze to your battered skin.

Jasper was just finishing up with her job on your upper back when you hear her mutter, “So how did it even go? You got a tattoo, alright, but did you actually talk to her? Or flirt with her?” You know Jasper is wriggling her eyebrows behind your back, you don’t even need to see her.

“No, I mean,”, you sigh, ”We talked, yes, and she’s nice. God Jasper, why is she so nice.” You absentmindedly twirl a roll of gauze between your fingers. “But I don’t know, she could talk like this with all her customers. I’m probably nothing special to her at all.” 

“Well there you have it then.”

“What?”

“She’s going to forget about you after she’s finished with your tattoo, so you need to get out of the customer-zone before that! You need to meet her somewhere outside of work, but where…” 

Jasper trails off for a moment, you turn and get up from the couch in the meantime, to find a bra and shirt to cover yourself with.

She practically shouts her next words at you, “The BBQ!”

“Sorry to repeat myself,” you tell her while struggling to put a t-shirt on over the bandages, “but what?”

“The BBQ! Beach City Summer BBQ it’s called officially I think, the mayor holds it every year to net more votes, but there’s free food and drink and beach volleyball, the whole town’s gonna be there. You can ask Lapis to come along with you! It’s this Friday.” Jasper looks at you, clearly pleased with her ingenious idea.

“I can’t just ask her that.”, you reply, deadpan. 

Jasper groans but then stops as her eyes suddenly set on your bed. Or something laying on your bed, specifically. Your phone.

You have a split second to realize what Jasper is about to do as she bolts from her spot on the couch over to your bed, you’re standing next to your dresser and it’s about the same distance but of course she reaches it faster than you. _Curse you and your lack of sporting activities._

She’s snatched the phone and starts rummaging through it, looking for your messaging app, you’ve reached her in the meantime and latch onto her immediately, but you’re no match for Jasper’s muscles. You try wrestling her to recapture your phone, and you’re not above playing dirty either, as you kick and even scratch her with you blunt nails. 

Jasper appears completely unperturbed by your feeble fighting attempts, she holds you at arm’s length easily. She even has her other hand free to type.

“JASPER DON’T YOU DARE!”

“Peri I swear, one future day you’re gonna get married to someone and it’ll be because I asked the damn girl for you then too.”

She starts typing and voices her words out loud for you, “Hey Lapis, you know the annual bbq by the beach? It’s this Friday evening and I wanted to ask you if you’d like to go with me and hang out?”

“Jasper if you send that I’m going to kill you!”

“Aaaaand sent, oh look she’s online right now, she’s gonna see it right away.”

You cease your struggling, it was no use now anymore. Jasper lets go of you and throws the phone in your face, you fumble to catch it and your eyes are glued to the small screen instantly.

“Oh god she’s typing, she’s typing, Jasper!!!” You hold your breath.

[ _Sure! I was planning on going anyways, I’d like to go with you :) Come over tomorrow, I want to see your healing process and we can talk about it then, see u_ ]

Jasper tilts the phone so she could read the message too, she breaks out into loud, obnoxious laughter but you barely hear her.

A single text message was all it had taken? It couldn’t be so easy you tell yourself, still in disbelief, you read it again just to make sure you had gotten it right, yes, Lapis really wants to meet you at the bbq this friday. The day after tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is going to be a bit of a filler, sorry in advance for that, but if it goes as I want it to, some more characters will have an appearance in it. 
> 
> As always, if you catch any awkward sounding words or phrases let me know, anything that helps me wrestle this language into submission is greatly appreciated (as well as general opinions!)


	4. Chapter 4

Your shift at work goes by surprisingly quickly on Thursday, several customers keep you quite busy all day. The highlight probably being a worried mother you have to calm down for several minutes first, because, yes, you probably _can_ save the image and video files of her son’s birth from her busted laptop but not if she keeps yelling at you in panic like that. (And then you have to look at many, many gigabytes of things that you really wish you could just wipe from _your_ internal hard-drive, good god.) 

In between fixing two broken smartphone screens you catch a glimpse of Lapis on one of her cigarette breaks, she waves at you and you wave back, after she’s gone again you take a moment to look at your phone, to reread her message from yesterday for the twentieth time. A small smile settles on your face and stays there until you close the shop hours later.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once again Lapis isn’t there to greet you in the entrance hall when you walk in, but that hardly surprises you anymore. Instead you find a little boy, maybe 9 or 10, sitting on the old black couch, he’s busy applying temporary tattoos to every free surface on his left arm with utmost concentration.

“Aren’t you a little young to be getting a tattoo?”

He looks up at you, his poofy black hair whipping up and down slightly in the progress. 

“Maybe I’m just really short for my age!”

“Touché.” 

You glance at the computer table at the other side of the room, but the view is blocked by a large black man wearing a garish shirt that looks like a relic from the 80s. He’s talking to whoever is staffing the table right now but you can’t see who it is. 

Figuring you’ll just wait until he’s done you take a seat on the couch next to the boy, careful not to get sucked into the treacherous crevice again. You start to get out your phone, to check your messages or dick around on tumblr for a bit but before you can do so, the little boy has slid a sheet of temporary tattoos over to you on the coffee table. 

“Soooo, may I interest you in one of these bad boys while you wait?” he asks you cheekily, as if he’s trying to sell the next gen of iphones a day before the official release. 

“Sorry, I’ll pass.”

“You sure? I even have ones with ufos, you know.”

“Yeah I’m more here for the real thing, tattoos that is, not ufos.”, you state the obvious. 

“Ohhh”, his eyes light up with interest, ”are you gonna get it from Amethyst or Lapis? Is it going to be something cool? You could get a rocket ship if you don’t like ufos!”

“From Lapis, and it’s halfway done already, actually. Imagine a large rectangle on my back, filled with a painting of outer space. No ufos or rocket ships, though.” You don’t even know why you’re telling this random kid all of this, but then again, why the hell not.

“Wait a minute, are you Peridot!?

You stare at him, taken aback, then you squint confusedly and answer: “Uh, yeah. How do you even know my name?”

“It’s because, oh wait I didn’t even tell you my name, I’m Steven! And it’s because Lapis told me, duh. She really wanted to do her space painting on someone, so she was super happy that she’s found you!” He’s started petting the fuzzy kitten sticker on the coffee table, his temporary tattoos forgotten for now.

That still didn’t explain how this Steven kid fit into all of this so you ask, “and you know Lapis how? And why are you even here, I mean, what’s a little kid, sorry, someone who is short for their age, even doing in a tattoo parlor on their own?” 

“I’m not on my own, Pearl’s right over there.” Steven points at the man still standing at the other end of the room. You figure he means the person behind him sitting at the table, though.

“And I’ve always known Lapis, we've been friends forever!”, he continues, “My dad used to own this place with Amethyst and Lapis working for him, but now he lets them run it on their own, Pearl helps them with organizing stuff once a week too. Right now I’m here because I’m going to the aquarium with Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl later, but we have to wait for Garnet to come and pick us up here first!”

You take in all this information, still confused about more of this than not but at least things are making somewhat sense to you now. Before you can interrogate Steven further however, you’re being called from across the room, you notice the big man has left the shop, revealing a slim figure looking at you from behind the computer. Since you didn’t hear her the first time, she calls again, “Hello, can I help you?” 

Bidding Steven and his temporary tattoos goodbye for now you make your way over to the computer table and give the person sitting behind it a quick once-over. This Pearl woman sure seems to be of the prim and proper kind, she sits on the office chair as if posing for a workplace ergonomics pamphlet -you pointedly continue standing in front of her with your slouched-over stance- her strawberry blonde is hair neatly combed back and her blouse without as much as a hint of a crinkle. 

“Uh yeah, hi, I’m Peridot. Lapis told me to come over today, she wants to check the healing progress on my tattoo.”

Pearl promptly opens a hefty black datebook laying before her on the table, “I see, let me just check the schedule.” She scans the page for this week, “Peridot you say? Hm, I’m afraid I don’t see your name in today’s appointments.”

“Lapis texted me, she probably just forgot to tell you.”

“Look, if you don’t have an appointment, Lapis won’t have time for you today. But we can make one right now, if you’d like.”, Pearl offers.

She’s started tapping her pen on the datebook, it’s irritating you. She’s irritating you, why did she have to be so needlessly difficult about this. You purse your lips. 

“What? No I don’t want to make an appointment, I _have_ one. Can’t you just get Lapis from her room? I’m sure she’d clear this up for you. Or I can spare you the work and just go there myself?” 

You eye the archway leading toward Lapis’ room from the corner of your vision and start to edge there. Slowly. Without Pearl noticing, hopefully.

But of course she does notice immediately, Pearl stands up from her office chair, now clearly looking irritated herself and ready to argue some more with you. You start fretting, she wouldn’t throw you out of the shop, or would she?

“I don’t-...”, she starts, only to be interrupted by Lapis walking into the room, toward the printer, in particular. “Pearl could you take a look at the printer again? I wanted to print something half an hour ago, but it kept jamming.”

Then Lapis notices you -thank god- “Oh hey Peridot! Why didn’t you come to my room right away, Pearl could have told you I don’t have another customer scheduled until half past six.”

Pearl looks, well, she looks pretty dumbfounded you note a little gleefully. She catches her composure again quickly, though. “Lapis how many times do I have to tell you to write any appointments into the book after you make them?”

“Sorry, must have forgotten, I’ll remember next time!” You’re very sure she won’t. 

You can hear Pearl make an incomprehensible grumbling sound in a why-doesn’t-anyone-appreciate-my-work way as Lapis pulls you into her room once again. You resist the urge to look back at Pearl and stick out your tongue at her.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Did Pearl give you a hard time?”, Lapis asks you while she gathers and stacks several sheets of paper laying cluttered on her table, sketches she must have worked on. 

“Not at all.”

Lapis smiles at your blatant lie, seeing right through it. “She can be a little difficult sometimes I guess, but I think this whole place would have fallen apart a long time ago if she didn’t help us with the paperwork and scheduling, Amethyst and me are kind of sloppy with that stuff.”, she shrugs, then walks over to you again.

“So how have you fared? Any dramatic amount of swelling? Infections? Chestbursters?”

“No, no and...no? Didn’t think you’d be the type who randomly makes _Alien_ references.”

“Wow excuse you? It’s a classic of the genre. Could you take off your shirt again, I’d like to have look.”, Lapis requests. 

“Only the first movie, though.”, you reply as you turn around and start to undress quickly, pretty used to showing people your back by now. 

“Amen.” Lapis sets to peel off your bandages and then you focus very intensely on the suddenly highly interesting tile flooring in front of you as Lapis hands are on you again. 

She’s running her fingers over your back gently, her touches are featherlight on your sensitive skin, you press your lips together tightly and suppress a shudder.

“It’s scabbed over nicely!”, is Lapis’ verdict a minute later. “You won’t be needing the bandages anymore, it’s better to let some air at it now, just keep it moisturized with this lotion.”, she says and fetches said lotion from the table, then starts applying it to your tattoo. 

“So about tomorrow,”, you start lamely, mostly to distract yourself from her ministrations,” when and where would you like to meet up?” You have a brief moment of anxiety because, what if you’d dreamt up her message all along and she has no idea what you’re talking about?

“Hmm, I’ll probably hitch a ride with Amethyst, I think she said she wanted to be there at around 7 PM? You know those graffity covered benches by the boardwalk? Let’s say there at quarter past seven?”

“Sounds fine with me.” You don’t have a car so you’d have to hassle Jasper to take you there, she told you she’d be going too, so this shouldn’t pose a problem.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lapis has finished up her examination of your back soon enough and you’re dressed again, you tell her you’re looking forward to tomorrow and she says she does too. And then you’re out the door to give her time to prepare for her next customer. 

Steven and Pearl aren’t in the entrance hall anymore as you leave, you’re sad about this almost, you’d have liked to glare some daggers at Pearl on your way out. You also remember that you didn't ask Lapis about that Steven kid like you had wanted to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said, this chapter is kind of a filler, expect Stuff to Happen in the next two. 
> 
> Oh and, don't u dare think I'd write a fic featuring Pearl and Amethyst but not Garnet. She's gonna have her moment soon enough :) 
> 
> As always, comments are appreciated, and thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alternatively titled: That's gay, Peridot.

“You think you’re gonna be finished anytime this century?”

“Just a moment, Jasper”, you grumble back at her through your bathroom door.

“I thought you wanted to win Lapis over with your charming personality and not your looks anyways.”

You ignore her, Jasper hated waiting but she’d just have to deal with it this once as you look at yourself in the mirror hanging over the sink again. Normally you don’t give half a fuck about your appearance, but normally you aren’t about to meet your crush on a beach date either. 

_Date_. You turn the word around and around in your mind while you brush your teeth, was it really going to be a date? A date-date? To Lapis it could as well just be a friend-date, right? 

You spit out the toothpaste in your mouth and check your shirt for any stains one last time and nod approvingly when you don’t find any. You had labored over what to wear all day, but finally you'd simply settled on some beige bermudas, a slightly baggy, white-and-blue striped tank top and some flip-flops, not much of a fashion statement, but you’re going to the beach and not a fancy dinner party after all. 

You come out of the bathroom and Jasper mutters “Finally.”, before giving you her judgment, “Well it looks very...you.”

“Says the one wearing a _Sun’s out, Guns out_ t-shirt”, you retort. 

A minute later you’ve locked the door to your flat and you’re on your way downstairs with Jasper, to her car parked just outside. You’ve lovingly dubbed it the _douchewagon,_ because really, that’s what it is. A black 1984 BMW 3 series -you wouldn’t have taken it for free when Jasper had first showed you a picture of it on craigslist- it had looked like a sad rusty bucket back then but Jasper had used all the skills she got from working at a car garage to breathe new life into it. Now it was always polished until sparkling and two plush dice hung around the rear-view mirror. 

Yes, definitely a douchewagon. You try not to think of how many girl’s backs Jasper had introduced to the faux-leather material of the backseat over the years, as that would make you barf. 

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The ride to the parking lot in front of the beach only takes a few minutes, but to you, it still feels like an eternity of fearing for your literal life. Jasper drives like the devil and this time was no exception, needless to say, you're glad when she puts in the parking brake. 

You both get out of the car at your destination and Jasper says she wants to check out the beach volleyball tournament that’s about to start soon, then gives you a thumbs up and a “good luck with your lady!” and after that, you’re on your own. 

Because of Jasper’s breakneck driving speed you’re a little early, so you stroll toward your meeting point with Lapis at a casual pace, but still, as you come closer to the graffiti-smeared benches on the boardwalk, you see Lapis already waiting for you. She hasn’t spotted you yet and while you keep walking toward her -after taking a deep breath- you realize just how beautiful she is. 

Lapis’ blue hair draws your eyes immediately toward her, between the crowd of people walking on the boardwalk today, it’s the first thing that stands out, even as the sunsets gives everything a more orange-ish tint. She’s wearing a matching blue summer dress this time and she looks quite content to watch several gulls fighting over some french fries laying on the ground before the bench she’s sitting on. 

You notice she’s barefoot right now, her shoes -flip flops too, like you are wearing- are right in front of her but she’s slid them off to dangle her legs back and forth to a rhythm in her head, she seems a little lost in her thoughts like that. 

She notices you approaching eventually, she wriggles into her shoes again quickly and gets up to greet you. 

“Hey Peridot!”, she almost-shouts toward you across the remaining distance.

“Hey Lapis.”, you say after you get there. You stare at the ground then, peppered with old dried up bubble gums as you suddenly find it hard to look Lapis in the eyes. An awkward silence is threateningly close in the air but before it can strike, Lapis says, “I’m glad you got here a little early too, I want to go to the beach volleyball tournament before it starts, would you like to go there too?”

“Sure, sounds like fun.”, you reply. Anything sports-related wasn’t really your forte but why not give this a chance, especially since Lapis looked excited about it. 

You make your way toward the beach together then, walking next to each other. Lapis goes on, “How’s the tattoo doing? Still healing well?” 

“Yes doc, still no chestbursters. When do you think we can continue on it?”

“You seem to be healing fast, so if everything goes well, I’d say in a little over a week. Remember the guy who fell down the stairs, whose appointment you got? He was scheduled for a follow up but since he’s still in hospital, he won’t make it. So I went ahead and reserved his spot on the 15th for you, if you can’t that day we can still figure something else out, though.”

“Hm no I think I should be able to get my free day off work then. Will you be able to finish it that day or do we need another one? Because, I’ll be honest, sleeping on my belly isn’t really my favourite thing to do.”

“Well that depends on how tough you are, of course!”

You flex your biceps -or lack thereof- as a joke in response, “So one appointment it is then, because I’ll have you know I even open all my pickle jars on my own.”

Lapis fakes a swoon, while laughing, “Tough as nails, I see.”

You’ve reached the beach by now, and there’s more people here, most of them swarming around the food booths or sitting by tables with built-in parasols - which were set up for the occasion- to eat and drink. Closer to you is the beach volleyball field and there’s another crowd gathered around it too. Lapis weasels her way through it and drags you along in the process until you’re both standing by the field itself. 

On one side of the set up net you recognize Jasper -looking ever confident-, a dark skinned girl, you think her name might be Jenny, her family owns a pizza place in town, and Sadie and Lars who work at the Big Donut, Lars didn’t look particularly thrilled about playing volleyball, though. 

Jasper sees you and yells: “Hey Peri, watch me beat these losers into the ground!” You bury your face in your hands in embarrassment. Lapis asks you with a crooked smile and a raised eyebrow: “A friend of yours?”

“Unfortunately.” 

On the other side of the net you see a pale as hell guy you don’t recognize, as well as Amethyst and -ugh- Pearl. Amethyst spots you two now too and starts waving, “There you are Lapis! We need another player for this match!” 

Lapis shouts back to her, “Why didn’t you ask Garnet?”

“She said it would give us an ‘unfair advantage’.”

Lapis snorts before she mutters, “that old show-off.” Then she turns to you again, giving you a questioning look. You catch on and quickly tell her, “Oh, go ahead! I’ll wait over there on those benches.” you point toward said benches, set up for spectators. They were right beside the field so you’d be able to watch the match. 

Lapis laughs lightly and stretches in preparation, “Sorry to insult your friend, but I’m going to beat _her_ into the ground.”

“Good luck with that.”, is the last thing you say to her before she’s off to the field, to side with Amethyst, Pearl and the pale beanpole of a guy. 

As the players are getting ready, you make your way over to the benches and sit down in a free spot next to a rather imposing looking black woman with a big afro and aviator shades, it was already dusk so there wasn’t any need for shades but whatever, you think. 

You notice Steven, the kid you met at the tattoo parlor yesterday, standing in the middle of the field then, he’s holding the ball and it looks like he’d be the referee. He turns his back to the players and throws the ball backwards over his head and the match begins. 

Its pace is moderate for now you guess, the ball going back and forth over the net in a steady rhythm as everyone worked together and passed it to their respective teammates and then back toward enemy ground. Occasionally someone would score a point and there would be taunts and laughter but all in all you aren’t particularly on the edge of your seat here. 

After a while you notice that the tall woman sitting next to you is staring at you, at least you think so. It’s hard to tell with her shades but her face is pointing your way.

“Something the matter?”, you ask her, maybe you somehow missed a huge spot of toothpaste on your face earlier?

“You’re Peridot, aren’t you?”, her voice is deep and her tone makes you wonder if you’d somehow committed a crime. Also, what the hell was it with strangers being on a first-name basis with you recently.

“Uh, yes. And you are……?”

“I’m Garnet.” She tilts her chin toward the field for a moment, then faces you again. “We’re both friends of Lapis. Or at least _I_ am, I don’t think _you_ are.”

You wonder if there was anyone Lapis _hadn’t_ told about you, but then you bristle as you take in the second part of her sentence.

“Hey, yeah okay I might not have known her that long but I’d say Lapis and me get along just fine, at the least we’re acquaintances.”

Garnet’s still looking at you, her expression unreadable to you and she takes her sweet time before replying, “No, what I meant is, you don’t want to be her _friend_. You want to be something else for her, don’t you. I’ve seen you both over there, the way you kept looking at her.”

You can’t help your mouth from falling open a little and you blush the deepest shade of red your blood cells can muster. You had just met this women minutes ago and she’d seen right through you, you feel very baffled and kind of exposed too. 

You start stammering but Garnet interrupts you, “Don’t worry, I think it’ll be fine. But let me give you some advice, from someone who’s known her for a long time. Lapis can be rather fickle sometimes, when she hasn’t decided what she wants yet, which isn’t always the easiest thing to deal with if you’re the one affected by that fickleness.”

Garnet pauses to look over to the volleyball field again before she continues, “But then again, Lapis can also be like a little force of nature when she _does_ have her mind set on something”, she chuckles lightly, “trust me, you don’t want to stand in between her and a Taco Bell after a six-hour car ride and a two-hour traffic jam.”

You don’t know what to say to all of this and it turns out you don’t have to figure something out on the spot either, as you see Steven running towards Garnet and you. He takes one of Garnets hands and starts pulling it with all his might to get her to stand up, Garnet doesn’t move a fraction of an inch. 

“Garnet! Garnet, get up! I need you as back-up to cheer for Pearl, Lapis and Amethyst! Their team is losing! They need us!!!”, he stops his task for a second, “ Also, hi Peridot!”

Garnet stands up after Steven’s pleading, the tall woman simply lifts him up then and sets him down to sit on her shoulders and Steven looks rather pleased with this development, you can hear him shouting “Onwards, my mighty steed!” and laughing as Garnet walks away, toward the playing field. 

You, meanwhile, are still a little shell-shocked after what had just occurred. You really don’t know what to think of Garnet, and her words, mystified over the insights she’d just shared with you. 

You decide to store this weird conversation away to think about later, as your attention wanders to the playing field again or rather….the battlefield. You stand up to get a closer look now too.

While you were talking with Garnet the match must have, well, intensified. There was only Jasper and Lapis left standing, each on their respective side. Your eyes wander over the other spectators and sure enough there were the rest of the players, all looking exhausted and in Lars case, passed out even. And you find out why soon too, Steven shouts “24 to 24, the next point wins!” and throws the ball again and the speed it’s going with from left to right and back again now is incredible.

The jabs and taunts you heard earlier were gone too, Lapis and Jasper both played in silence now and you really couldn’t look away from them anymore, even if you wanted. They were both on even ground skill-wise but Jasper hit hard, giving the ball an almost deadly velocity. On the other hand, Lapis was faster and more agile, she seemed to be everywhere at once on the field and she countered everything Jasper threw at her. She makes quite the figure, you note, the skirt of her dress flying with her movements and her legs caked with sand.

You’re standing directly by the field now and just as you think Jasper might have made a misstep a small elderly woman enters the field from the other side of where you are standing. A girl comes running after her, yelling, “Nanefua!!! You can’t just walk into other people’s matches! We can play later!” 

The old woman replies defiantly, “I’ve waited long enough Kiki, these bones don’t get any younger you know!” and then she...snatches the volleyball out of mid-air as it passes from Lapis’ side to Jasper’s? You’re quite impressed but also you’d have really liked to find out how this game would have ended. 

Jasper and Lapis both look too exhausted to complain or win the ball back from this octogenarian, they’re still busy catching their breaths after you’ve walked over to them.

“Good…….game”, Lapis manages to huff out.

“Yeah but…...next time…….you’re done for.”, comes the reply from Jasper. 

“You’ve both lost your minds. I thought I should call the police on you there for a moment back then, that looked more like a cage match to me than volleyball.” 

Jasper and Lapis look at your slightly exasperated face and then at each other before they break out into loud laughter and fall into the sand, you don’t know what’s so funny suddenly, it’s probably their combined adrenaline highs taking their tolls. 

“How about a rematch?”, Jasper says after they’re done with that. 

But before Lapis can agree to it -and she certainly looks like she’s about to-, you pipe up again: “Nononono, no way, I’m hungry as hell, I’m not watching you two duke it out for another half hour.”

Lapis’ stomach agrees with your plan, it grumbles loudly right then.

She pats her obviously empty belly, “Hmm food sounds nice, yeah let’s find something to eat. I can still beat you some other time, Jasper.” Lapis gets up and dusts most of the sand on her clothing and hair off. 

“You want to come with us?”, you ask Jasper who’s still comfortably lying in the sand.

“Nah, I think I’m good here right now, you two go and get your fill of frying grease.”, she says casually, but the way she looks at you tells you why she’s really not tagging along. _Make your move, Peridot._

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You both end up getting burgers, a regular one for you and a tofu one for Lapis, she’s a vegetarian, she admits to you as you make your way across the beach somewhere less crowded and while you eat. 

“I think I’d like to be vegan one day, but cheese is my downfall.”, she says in a light tone. You hope you didn’t offend her with your choice of food but then Lapis says, as if reading your thoughts, “Don’t worry, I won’t start chanting “Bloodmouth!” at you or anything, haha. When I was a stupid teen I guess I was a little...extremist, but not anymore, I’ve just become tired of arguing.”, she shrugs and takes another bite of her burger. 

You briefly wonder what she means with “extremist”, you could definitely picture her sneaking into Sea World at night to steal one of the whales. 

It’s gotten dark by now, only a steely blue stripe on the horizon still hinting at the sun behind it. You both finish your food and you see someone had set up a bonfire somewhere in front of you not far away. Lapis and you decide to check it out and soon find a large piece of driftwood in a comfortable distance to the fire. You settle down in the sand next to each other and lean against it, it wasn’t the most comfortable affair but it would to. 

“Do you mind?”, Lapis says as she sets to take a cigarette out of the purse she’s carrying slung over one shoulder.

“Not at all. I used to smoke too but Jasper managed to make me stop years ago. Never underestimate the power of a nagging friend.”, you tell her and then snort a moment later when she lights it.

“What are you laughing about?”

“Sorry it’s just, you’re a vegetarian. But you smoke? Don’t you think that’s kind of contradictory? I mean, you care about the well-being of animals, but not about your own lungs?”

Lapis thinks about it for a moment, she takes a drag and lets the smoke out in a puff over your head. Her face is illuminated brightly on one side, as the warm light of the fire hits it, but the other half is cast in darkness. 

“You make a compelling argument Peridot, but also have you considered!”, she extends her index finger like she’s about to tell you something elementary, Watson. “Addiction is a powerful thing.”

She shrugs as she goes on, “I don’t know, I guess my sense of self-preservation is a bit….skewed sometimes.”

“What do you mean by that?”, you ask, a little puzzled. 

“Well,”, Lapis sighs, “you know, I didn’t always live here in Beach City, I’m from a town by the sea farther up north.” She pauses to take another drag from her cigarette, releasing the smoke away from your face again. 

“My dad runs a big renowned shipping company there and you know, I think he had my whole life planned out for me, he’d even picked out a promising guy that he wanted me to fall in love, marry and pop out a nice heir for him with.” 

Lapis pauses again and looks into the fire for a moment, then she goes on, “but I guess that old bastard didn’t reckon that his only daughter is very gay and very not interested in any of that.” She doesn’t sound bitter about it, you think. More like she’s moved on from that. 

“They threw me out after I’d told them about myself, just like that. I got my first tattoo the night after, here.” she turns her left wrist toward you. You take it carefully and turn it a little farther, because the bright light of the fire made it hard to see from this angle. The motive was small and just a little faded from the years it’d been there on her skin.”

“Why a sea turtle?”, you ask.

“I don’t know?” You’re reminded of your words when you’d walked into Lapis’ parlor for the first time, it had been just days ago, Lapis seems to remember too, she smiles at you.

“I guess I just wanted some kind of. Marker. _And_ I guess you could come up with some bullshit reasoning how sea turtles have a tough shell or something haha.”

Then she becomes serious again, as she goes on with her story. “I didn’t do very well in the months after that, until I came here. You’ve met Steven, right?” 

You nod curtly in agreement. 

“His dad found me standing in the surf one day. I don’t really know what I was doing there, I wasn’t suicidal but I just kind of wanted the sea to...take me away? It sounds so silly when I describe it like that, and I guess it _was_ kind of silly, really.” It didn’t sound silly to you at all. 

“He helped me get back on my feet, he found out I wasn’t half-bad at drawing and took me under his wing, he taught me everything I know about tattooing.” 

Lapis takes yet another drag from her cigarette, her face relaxed as she’s lost in fond memories. 

“He’s a good guy, but his wife died a while ago and now he takes care of Steven on his own, that’s why Amethyst and I run his tattoo parlor now.” 

You suddenly remember something and ask, “Is he the one who gave you that water witch painting that’s hanging in your room?” 

“Yes that was Greg! It’s one of my favourite pieces, I’d like to paint like that one day.”, she says a little wistfully. 

Then Lapis suddenly rolls her eyes. “Wow I just kind of went ahead and dumped my whole life story on you there, sorry about that, I’m not a walking TV drama all the time, I swear. What about you? Tell me about yourself.” 

You bury your toes in the dry sand a little, it’s still warm from the day. 

“Well I, uh, for starters, I’m not nearly as interesting as you to be honest. I’m not even out to my family, I’ve never had the nerve to tell them and I don’t think they know. Or maybe they _do_ know, they just don’t want to accept it.” Lapis looks at you attentively as you relate your not very thrilling tale to her. 

“And I’ve always lived in Beach City, it’s kind of boring, I know, but I like it here just fine, so I’ve never had a reason to leave? Except maybe, I think after high school I could have gone to a good college somewhere else, I’d have liked to study programming but, well, money.”, you shrug, matter-of-factly. 

“That doesn’t sound boring at all Peridot, it’s nice to have a place to call home.”, Lapis looks at her hands resting in her lap contemplatively. 

You both fall quiet then for a while, but it doesn’t feel awkward now. Lapis and you face the fire and enjoy its warmth on your bodies, as the night had become a little chilly. There was no sign of the sun now anymore, instead, the first stars have appeared in the sky overhead, twinkling faintly. 

“It’s nice here.”, you muse, “I guess I should come to the beach more often but the tourist crowds usually keep me away.” _And usually you don’t have someone like Lapis to keep you company_ , you add in your mind. 

“Tell me when you do, I’d like to come along.” 

You realize after a while that Lapis is looking at you again, so you turn toward her as well, and you notice her cigarette has almost burned down to the filter. 

Lapis’ eyes are half lidded, but focused on you and her lips slightly open, she pulls her outstretched legs a little toward her body, to get more comfortable, leaving small canyons in the sand by doing so. _Has she been sitting this close to you this whole time?_ You wonder, you’re pretty sure her right arm hadn’t been resting next to you on the piece of driftwood a minute ago. 

_This might be a date-date after all_ , registers somewhere in the back of your mind, but really, your whole attention is on Lapis now, her expression looks a little...tentative? But still she’s started leaning closer to you slowly -one hand still holding onto the piece of driftwood- and you can feel something pulling in your chest then, drawing you towards her too. You shut your eyes as you’re about to close the remaining distance, yet you never reach her because, 

Lapis shrieks loudly and pulls away from you. Your brain has trouble coming up with a logical reason _why_ but you understand a split second later as you’re hit with a load of cold water on your head. You make an undignified noise of surprise as well, you sputter and look around to find the source for the sudden shower. 

Lapis has already found it behind you, 

“ _Steven!”_

And sure enough, it’s Steven standing behind you, holding two -now empty- buckets, the kind you’d use to build sandcastles. 

“Smoking is bad for you!”, he shouts and starts running away, laughing at his own prank, Lapis has gotten up in the meantime and is after him, in hot pursuit. She’s drenched, with her clothing soaked through as well as her hair, which was now laying matted against her head. You’re not much better off yourself, you realize and you quickly get to your feet to help Lapis catch the little boy. You sure hope he's ready for annihilation. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> didn't think I'd make it this easy, now did you >:) Also I love Steven, can you tell. 
> 
> And actually, I apologize for the cliffhanger, I hadn't meant to leave off there, but this chapter has turned out rather long so I wanted to split it up. The next one will continue right where we left off, I promise. 
> 
> Thanks for reading and as always, comments as well as concrit are appreciated!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> reminder, last time we left off, Peridot and Lapis were just getting their gay on but got interrupted by Steven and two buckets of seawater.

Steven hadn’t thought his prank all the way through it seemed. Lapis legs are longer than his stubby ones and not a minute after she’d started her hunt, she had him tackled into the sand, they both went down with an oof.

You catch up with them and hear Steven begging for mercy, his schadenfreude all gone now: “It was all Amethyst’s idea, I swear!!!” 

Lapis doesn’t let go of him, instead she says gravely: “Doesn’t excuse the culprit, Steven, besides, I don’t see Amethyst around here anywhere right now.” Lapis isn’t really mad, you could tell, in fact she seems to have a hard time trying to hide her mirth, despite being drenched with water from head to toe. 

“Always prepare an escape plan beforehand.”, you add while stepping next to Steven’s head in the sand, you cross your arms and try to look down at him intimidatingly, but since you’re as doused as Lapis, you don’t succeed with that and Steven just grins up at you. “I’ll remember that next time, Peridot!”

“Already planning your next crime, I see.”, Lapis says. She purses her lips in thought for a moment, “Say Peridot, what kind of punishment would you suggest for Steven in this situation?”

You play along right away, tapping your chin with your index finger as you think for a befitting fate for Steven, “Well, we could always pay him back equally, and throw him into the ocean but,-

“NO not the ocean! I don’t want to sleep with the fishes!!!!”, Steven interjects. 

You go on, “Yes, maybe that would be a tad too cruel. Hmm, I guess some thorough tickling should do the job as well.”

“No not that either! I won’t do it again, I promise!” 

Lapis simply ignores his pleas. “Ah yes, excellent idea, thank you Peridot.”

“My pleasure.”

Lapis sets to execute the agreed-upon punishment right away, she grins down at Steven and then her fingers are on his sides, tickling him mercilessly. Steven laughs and grunts and squirms to get away from her, to no avail. You can’t help but join Lapis’ snickering, it was kind of comical to watch them. Eventually Steven manages to gasp out an “Uncle! Uncle!” and Lapis finally let go of him, deeming he had suffered enough. she got back to her feet and pulled him up with her after he’d calmed down from his giggle-fit. 

“Hope you learned your lesson not to mess with the wrong people again. Or at least not until you can run away faster.”, Lapis winks down at Steven who chortles at that and hugs one of her legs. They really are good friends, almost like siblings, you realize. You are an only-child so you’ve never had to learn how to deal with small kids and you are kind of glad for that. While you don’t outright hate them, they are kind of scary to you, at least the kind that was too tiny and constantly screaming or pooping. However, you think, you might just be able to get along with this Steven kid, if he doesn’t decide to ruin a moment between Lapis and you again, that is. 

_Oh, right_ , you remember how close you two had gotten earlier, sitting by the piece of driftwood. Something deep in your belly curls a little tighter at the thought. 

Suddenly a shiver runs through you and effectively snaps you out of your reverie. The bonfire was a good distance off since Steven had run away from it as he had tried to escape from Lapis and now you notice how clammy your soaked shirt had gotten. Lapis was no better off, you can see goosebumps on her bare arms. 

“We should probably get back to the fire to warm up, it’s cold as fu- I mean, cold as heck here.”, you pause as something else occurs to you, “hey Lapis, do you think this is going to be bad for my healing tattoo? You told me showering was fine but did that include cold seawater?”

“Hm, it’s not your death-sentence, don’t worry, but yeah we should probably clean it and get you out of that shirt as soon as possible.” You groan a little inwardly at Lapis’ unintentioned innuendo. Also, you guess this meant goodbye for tonight, you’d have to find Jasper and ask her to drive you home so that you could change. But before you can tell Lapis so, she’s had a different idea:

“Hey Steven, you think your dad has some dry clothing lying around for us in your house?”

“Hmmmm, he never throws anything away so yeah I bet! Oh, but before we go I should probably tell him or he’ll worry where I went.”

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After the three of you had found Greg -you aren’t sure what you had Lapis’ mentor and Steven’s dad imagined to look like but probably not like...this- and gotten his okay, the three of you are now on your way to Steven’s house. It would be only a short trek, it’s right by the beach, Lapis tells you. She’s walking right next to you, with Steven running a short distance ahead in front of you both.

There’s no light from the bonfire around now anymore, and no streetlights visible either since you are walking right next to the ocean on the beach. Still it wasn’t dark, the moon was full tonight. 

Once again you’re reminded of the water witch painting in Lapis’ room at the parlor, the pale light has reduced her, the beach and the ocean in front of her to a dramatic monochrome of black and white and blue now, a perfect setting for a painting, you muse. _Or for a kiss._

“You’re so quiet suddenly, is everything okay?”, Lapis asks you, sounding a little concerned.

“Oh y-yeah yeah. I was just. Thinking. I do that sometimes.”, you try to sound nonchalant, praying Lapis wouldn’t pry further about _what_ you were thinking about.

“I hope you aren’t mad you got treated to that bucket of water, seems like second-hand smoking really has the same effects as doing it actively, at least if you ask Steven and his buckets.”

“No I’m not mad, I mean, yes I could have done without that impromptu outdoor shower but,”, you look at Lapis, who is still walking next to you. “I’ve had a lot of fun today.”

Lapis looks relieved, she smiles at you. “Me too.”

You’ve reached Steven’s house a minute later, it’s built right against a rocky cliffside, wooden stairs lead up to it from the beach. After Lapis let you and Steven inside -with a key she got from Greg- you think you quite like it here. The inside was spacious, welcoming and well lived-in.

Steven promptly leads Lapis and you over to the couch, or rather, a cupboard built into the stairs next to the couch. He opens it and after letting several board games and plush animals that had been crammed into it- “Oops, sorry.” -tumble onto the floor, he starts rummaging through it in earnest. 

“Lets see, here we have my old tiger Halloween costume. Anyone interested in that?”

Lapis chuckles, “Steven I’d like to, but I think it might be a little too small for me.”

“Right, hm, oh! These’ll do.”

He’s pulled out a cardboard box and sets it down on the couch. “My dad’s old band t-shirts!”

“Your dad was in a band?”, You ask with raised eyebrows.

Lapis replies for Steven, since he was halfway buried in the depths of the cardboard box, “Yeah, he’s kinda. Done everything once in his life.”

Steven meanwhile had returned from his box-quest and holds up a rather large black t-shirt with the words MR. UNIVERSE printed on for you and Lapis to look at. 

“Sorry, we’re all out of smalls and mediums so you can only pick between large and extra-large, which one do you guys want?”

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lapis and you both settled on a large sized shirt respectively and a few moments later you two are alone in the living room because Steven had gone to the bathroom to brush his teeth -but not after Lapis had told him to, though, she said it was after his bedtime and he had agreed with a grumble. 

“Let me just get changed real quick and then I can help you with cleaning your tattoo.”, Lapis says and then turns her back to you and starts undressing in front of you without another word.

She’s stepping out of her dress then, and you get a glimpse of her underwear -a simple black pair of matching bra and panties- but most importantly, you also get a glimpse of her back and her slender legs and the tattoos on both. 

In the middle of her back you could see a deep-blue teardrop shaped gemstone, with facets in a lighter shade and many, many spirals and swirls, in blue as well, extending outwards from it. Part of it was covered by her bra clasp but still it looked stunning. 

The same thing could be said from the motive on her left leg, a large red and black sea serpent wound its way from her ankle all the way up to her hips. You remember how you had seen its tail tip peeking out from under her dress on the day you first met her. You hadn’t expected it to be so big! The way it looked and twisted around itself kind of reminded you of old maps for sailors, of the creatures drawn into places where no one had ventured yet, with a “here there be dragons” written over them. 

Eventually you realize that you are ogling Lapis quite shamelessly and you quickly turn away from her, blushing. 

Lapis has finished putting on the shirt and a pair of grey sweatpants Steven had also found for her earlier soon, so you dare to look at her again, and you can’t help but snort. She was practically swimming in her new outfit, both the shirt and the pants were much too big for her, luckily, the old sweatpants still had a drawstring, which Lapis had tied to hold them in place around her waist.

She starts strutting around the living room like a runway model and you break out into laughter for real as she almost trips over one too-long pant leg. She rolls it and the other one up so it wouldn’t be in the way anymore, then she turns back to you: “It’s called fashion, look it up.”

“I’m sure this will be the next hot summer look, Lapis.”

“You bet, also stop laughing Peridot, you’re next.”, Lapis points at you then beckons you over to the kitchen sink. You follow suit and pull your shirt off over your head as well as unclasp your bra, knowing the procedure by heart by now. You really don’t know how to feel about the fact that undressing from the waist up in front of her barely phases you anymore. 

Lapis grabs a roll of paper towels standing on the counter next to her, afterwards you hear her turn on the faucet, to soak several pieces she’s ripped from the roll with warm water, and then she’s carefully wiping your back to clean away any seawater from your still healing tattoo. 

Lapis repeats the task with dry paper towels and after she’s finished with that she says: “You’re lucky my hands are super dry all the time, I always keep some hand lotion in my purse, it’s unscented so it should do the job for now to keep you moisturized.”

She’s quickly snatched the mentioned lotion from her purse lying on the couch and a few moments later Lapis’ hands are on you again. You don’t think anything of it at first but after a while you definitely notice something is….different. She’s standing fairly close and you have the comparison of how Jasper applied ointment to your back earlier today, thorough but quick. Meanwhile Lapis’ motions seem to have slowed down since she's started, she’s taking her time spreading the lotion evenly on your skin with her fingers, her touches lingering, almost. And you’re fairly sure your tattoo doesn’t reach that far down to the small of your back, yet you don’t comment on it. 

Eventually a shudder runs through you when Lapis’ hands gently brush downwards over the bumps of your spine, you can’t repress it. Somehow that seems to spook Lapis because she quickly pulls away from you. 

“There! All finished.”, she says, her tone had taken an unreadable note. 

You close your bra and turn around again, and as you take the black shirt Lapis proffers you, your eyes meet for a moment. 

The mood shifts again suddenly however, as Lapis breaks out into laughter when you’ve finished changing. The shirt is as big on you as it is on Lapis and to complete your idiot outfit, your bermudas had dried halfway by now, but the remaining dark spots were on your crotch and made it look like you had peed your pants. Great. 

“Stop it! If you really want something hilarious I can always ask Steven to get out his buckets again for you.”

“Sorry, sorry.”, Lapis says.

“You aren’t sorry at all”, you deadpan at Lapis’ attempts to stifle her giggles.

“No I’m not.”

Steven walks back into the room in that moment, now dressed in pyjamas covered with cartoon bear faces, he’s covering his eyes with his hands and almost bumps into the couch as he stumbles around blindly: “Are you guys all changed? Can I look?”

“It’s fine Steven.” Lapis puts her elbow on your shoulder and strikes a pose.

“So what do you think of our new look?”

It takes him all of two seconds until he’s laughing at you and Lapis, especially when he sees the still wet spots on your pants. You groan, lamenting your never ending suffering. 

“Shouldn’t you be in bed?”, you point at Steven. And then at Lapis, “And shouldn’t you be putting him to bed?”

Steven stops his guffawing and pouts at you instead for being a spoilsport.

“She’s right, up you go.”, Lapis says and motions for him to get up the stairs and hit the pillow. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An hour later Lapis and you are on your way back to the street nearest to the beach. Since neither of you felt very inclined to show up in public with your current outfits you had called Jasper and Amethyst respectively to come and pick you up here instead. So that’s why you’re both standing by the side of the road like two badly dressed hitchhikers. 

(And it hadn’t taken an hour to put Steven to bed, but he had begged to play a round of Mario Kart on the TV next to his bed first, and one round turned into five as Lapis kept creaming you and Steven on Rainbow Road.)

“How did you even get so good at driving on Rainbow fucking Road?”, you ask her now, still in disbelief.

Lapis shrugs, casually, “No idea, guess it just chose me. Or maybe it’s because I’m really gay.”

You raise your eyebrows at her and she adds, “Because, you know? Rainbows?”

“Well that’s bullshit then because I bet I’m gayer than you.”

“Is that a challenge?”, she asks with a smirk, you wish you could kiss it right off her face but then you get blinded by approaching headlights and you stumble backwards a few steps while covering your face against the glare. 

After your eyes have adjusted you see it’s Jasper who had stopped her car next to you.

“You gonna get in or what, Peri? Oh hey Lapis, you need a ride too?”

“No it’s okay, I can see Amethyst’s car already back there, she’s going to drive me home, so no worries.”

You ignore Jasper for now and turn to Lapis instead, fumbling with the hem of your shirt, you had felt so at ease with her a minute ago but suddenly you’re nervous again.

“So um, goodbye.” 

Lapis ignores your awkwardness, instead she gives you a hug but before you can hug her back, she mutters “Bye, I hope you don’t pee your pants next time, though.”

You step back and give her a flick to the forehead for that comment.

“Hey! ...Yeah ok I kinda deserved that one.” Lapis gives you one last smile before you get into Jasper’s car. 

And then she’s getting smaller and smaller in the rear-view mirror as Jasper drives away, you watch her get into Amethyst’s car -a beat up looking purple Ford Fiesta, probably as old as you.

“Should I even ask about your new outfit?”, Jasper asks while giving you a sideways glance.

“Probably not.”, you reply.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tfw you don't keep private and business separate and end up getting the hots for one of your customers. Not very professional, Lapis. 
> 
> Also I'm now accepting bets on when they will kiss. We're getting there soon, I promise. 
> 
> As always, comments and concrit are appreciated, and thanks for reading :)


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to dedicate this trash chapter to every damn gay fanfic I've read over the years that have taught me as much as I know about the English language as I do today, oh and to everyone who has left a kudos or a comment so far, honestly, when I first posted this I was expecting maybe 5 kudos and a single comment, thanks for all the encouragement and now I really hope you're ready for some cheesy bullshit

You flop down on your bed and let out an exhausted groan into your pillow -it had been quite the busy day at work. Five busted phones and a concerned father with his daughter’s waterlogged laptop, apparently she had dropped it in the bathtub for, as he said, the aesthetic.

You look up when you hear the ping of your phone, a new message, from Jasper as you quickly find out.

[ _so what the hell do you even think you’re doing there Peri_ ]

You frown, how had she even known? Plus, groaning into your pillow to lament your general state of ongoing existence was no crime, last time you checked.

[ _nothing?_ ]

[ _that’s what I thought. There’s a party at the old warehouse tonight, u should come with me_ ]

[ _do I have to _]__

You roll over onto your back, idly scratching your stomach. Your introverted ass kind of had enough of existing in public for this week after the bbq yesterday.

_[no you don’t have to in the same way you don’t have to have an actual social life instead of holing yourself up in your room every weekend unless I drag you out]_

Before you can tap out a snappy reply another message from Jasper pops up right away:

_[the hell you even got planned otherwise, playing your dumb alien romance video game again?]_

You rub your temple and brush some hair that’s fallen in your face away.

_[It’s called mass effect and you know it’s not about that. And fine. I’ll be ready by 10]_

Well it wasn’t _only_ about romancing aliens, you admit. Liara -blue alien lady of your heart- would just have to wait another day to be charmed by your character’s smooth ways.

By the time Jasper and you get there it’s after 11. She’d made you change outfits after saying “I don’t even get the crappy reference on that shirt but I know there is one and I won’t be seen with you like this.”

The warehouse is chock full today, honestly, you didn’t know Beach City even had this many people who liked to party. You walk behind Jasper, letting her size part the crowd in front of you until you spot an empty bar table near one of the walls. Jasper and you communicate via hand gestures over the noise of the music, she would go and get something from the bar while you seize the table.

Which you do, successfully, and then you have the choice of either staring at your phone or staring at the sweaty crowd on the dance floor in front of you as you wait for Jasper. You go for the sweaty crowd, for now at least. And it turns out to be quite the source of entertainment, sometimes you wonder what it’s like to lack any inhibitions and simply dance like a wounded baboon -a drunk wounded baboon-, which you spot at least three people doing. Then again, you’re not one to talk, since you wouldn’t make a better figure yourself, hence you don’t dance in the first place.

There are actually people who _can_ dance on the floor too but before you can pay attention to those, you spot a familiar flash of blue not far away. It’s Lapis and she must have seen you too, she’s making her way toward your table.

“Oh hey Peridot!”, Lapis announces after she’s sidestepped one last particularly vigorously dancing guy in an ugly hawaii shirt. She puts the bottle of beer she’d been holding down on the table. “All on your own?”

“Hello Lapis, and no, Jasper is at the bar, she should be back soon. And I think she said Ruby and Sapphire wanted to show up later too. Also, I could ask you the same question actually.”

“Oh I’m here with Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl but they’ve kinda turned it into a date night.”, she explains and points behind herself with her thumb. And yes, there you can see three said women, dancing quite close to each other and generally looking like they’re in need of a hotel room.

“Wait they’re dating?”, you ask incredulously, “all three of them?”

“Yeah they’ve kind of, figured something out for themselves.”, Lapis says with a shrug. “So now I’m here third wheeling, Or, err, fourth wheeling.” She takes a sip from her bottle of beer.

“Well, feel free to sit with the cool kids instead.”, you try making a mock-smug face but mostly end up looking like a giant tool.

Lapis snorts, “You know, I think I’ll stick with you until I find those.” She doesn’t let you reply anything to that, instead she goes on, “I’d like to dance first, though.You want to come along?”

“Oh no sorry but, uh, I don’t dance.”, you say lamely.

“Course she does. She just hasn’t had enough booze yet, luckily I have just the thing.” Jasper has reappeared victoriously from the crowd behind her and sets a bottle of Jägermeister and several shot glasses down on the bar table you’re all gathered around.

“Oh hell no, we are not getting drunk on cough syrup.”, you say but Jasper simply ignores you and pointedly puts a shot glass down in front of you.

“Where did you get an entire bottle of Jägermeister in here? I thought they only have shitty beer and vodka.”, Lapis asks.

“Don’t worry about it.”

Jasper has finished filling everyone’s glass and on three you all drink. You try to swallow it without letting it touch your tastebuds and fail, mostly. It’s better than tequila but still not really your choice of drink. Not that any drink is your choice of drink, for the most part you try to stay away from alcohol, but tonight you might just need it.

Jasper promptly pours another round. And another. After the fifth one your throat burns and you know you’ve made a mistake.

“Alright but now I really want to dance! I haven’t in forever.”, Lapis says excitedly, bouncing up and down a little even. Once again she asks you to join but still you can’t.

“Give her twenty minutes Lapis, Peri’s one hell of a lightweight so that stick in her ass should come loose soon enough.”

You glare at Jasper but she doesn’t notice, Lapis meanwhile doesn’t push the matter for now. She leaves her half-empty bottle of beer in your care and then she’s off to the dance floor with Jasper. You can see Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl join them soon after and for a while you just watch the group, well, mostly you watch Lapis.

She’s definitely having fun, you realize. The skirt of her dress swishing and swirling as she dances. Amethyst tries to twirl her and she goes along with a grin, except Amethyst is much shorter than her and it looks more like a round of limbo as Lapis tries to get underneath Amethyst’s arm and back. They don’t look like drunk baboons to you. They just look like they’re having good time.

A smile has crept up on your face as you’ve been watching their antics but suddenly it falls. Because you’re standing here by the table on your own, being a stick-in-the-mud. Lapis had asked you twice to join her and both times you declined. Because of what other people might think of your klutzy feet in action, yes. But mostly because of what _Lapis_ might think.

You let your eyes wander across the crowded club to distract yourself and eventually they settle on the DJ. You recognize him, he’s the pale guy from yesterday’s beach volleyball tournament, you think this activity suits him better than running around outside under the sun with all its UV rays and everything.

You look back at your group of dancing friends again when you see Lapis coming toward you once more, her hair now looking a little messy.

“Hey you still doing okay? I feel kind of bad for leaving you here all on your own.”

“No problem, I’ve been busy anyway.”, you say and point at Lapis’ beer bottle, it was now lacking the label, you had peeled it off in small pieces which now lay scattered on the table

“That actually makes me feel worse haha, are you sure you don’t want to come along?”

“Yeah, sorry but…”, you trail off for a moment as you look up from the bottle and at Lapis instead, she’s wearing make-up tonight but still her eyes have that slightly tired yet not exhausted look, you think it’s probably just part of her, even if she’s had a proper 8 hours of sleep. Lapis is still waiting for you to go on and you know it’s the alcohol taking effect now that’s saying your next words, that gave you this terrible idea in the first place three minutes ago. The alcohol and maybe a little bit of something else coiling warmly in your belly.

“Lapis could you, uh, wait here for a moment please? I gotta do something but I’ll be right back!”

You don’t let her reply, instead you disappear in the crowd before you can chicken out. Your goal is the DJ behind his turntables and the way there isn’t easy, you end up with four people stepping on your feet and an elbow to the guts but eventually you’ve made it. He leans toward you after he’s noticed you and listens to your request over the loud music

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You make it back to Lapis just in time -who is still standing by the table, giving you a slightly questioning look before quickly finishing her beer- as the first piano riff rips it’s way from every speaker. You still can’t believe he’s actually playing it.

“I know it’s no concert but maybe you’ll like this too.”, you tell the ground in front of Lapis.

It takes her only a few seconds to recognize the song and then she’s grinning and you’re glad you looked up again because it’s the best thing you’ve ever seen.

“Is that, oh my god it’s _Dancing Queen_! You’re such a dork Peridot, you don’t even like ABBA!”

You’re ready to take your place behind the table again and watch Lapis enjoy dancing to one of her favorite songs but as it turns out, Lapis isn’t having any of that. She grabs you by the arm and pulls you with her to the dance floor, a little way off from Jasper and the others.

Any protest from you dies a swift death in your throat because Lapis is holding your hands. And then she just, starts dancing. Since you can hardly continue standing around like a brick you join her, awkwardly shuffling your feet to the rhythm.

Lapis notices your discomfort and says with a chuckle, “Come on Peridot, you’re kinda drunk and so am I, just go with it.” She shimmies her hips dangerously close to you, but also, she’s right, you’re far from wasted but those Jägermeisters from before are definitely doing their part to loosen your muscles and getting you a little hypnotized by the way the colorful lights are bouncing off of Lapis’ skin and dress. Her cheerfulness is kind of contagious too and a minute and a half into the song you finally shrug off your nagging self-consciousness and laugh with Lapis as she starts singing along rather badly. You’re very glad she’s still holding your hands, otherwise you might have fallen over as the two of you go back and forth and spin each other around like fools.

The song fades out eventually, to be replaced by something less outdated and with more bass but Lapis and you stop dancing, you’re both out of breath. Speaking of which, you realize you can feel hers ghosting over your cheeks because of how close she’s standing to you, her eyes rapt on you as well.

Whatever spell you had been under earlier is broken now, though, and you quickly take a step back from Lapis.

“Do you think we can go outside for a moment? I need some fresh air.”, you say and Lapis snaps out of it too, she lightly shakes her head to clear it and answers, “Of course...I think I could use some too.”

Lapis and you fight your way from the dance floor and then along the walls until you find the exit, carefully avoiding a puddle of what might be puke. It’s significantly less crowded out here and after a few more steps the two of you have found some privacy with the warehouse behind you and the beach a short distance away in front of you.

The cool night air is pleasant compared to the stale and sweaty atmosphere in the club and you take a deep breath.

“Maybe ABBA isn’t so bad after all.”, you admit after a while.

Lapis had started rummaging in her purse, likely for a smoke but she stops and closes it again. Instead she raises an eyebrow at you and then she lets out a horrible, horrible (cute) snort-laugh.

“What’s so funny now?”

“I knew it!”, she smiles at you smugly and again you notice how close to each other the two of you are standing. You don’t take a step back this time. “No one can dislike ABBA, they’re eternal.”, she finishes.

Of course you can’t just let her be right. “Actually, I change my mind, ABBA is overrated tripe, but… I guess I can dance to it. With you.”

Suddenly listening to the way the gravel crunches under your sneakers is much more interesting than looking Lapis in the eyes you think. Definitely. Your jaw muscles lock tightly. When you do look at her again her expression is kind of...odd, vulnerable and open yet, hungry? It’s difficult to read and you don’t dwell on it because Lapis talks again, her voice now quiet, but husky, almost.

“Can I kiss you?”

You don’t answer, and later you couldn’t say who moved first or if you both did at the same time and it doesn’t matter either way because your mind fizzles blank after sighing out one last little _oh_ when Lapis and you finally meet.

It’s careful at first, as you’re both figuring out how your lips fit together, how your bodies align. And for now Lapis takes the lead, -you let her, gladly- she runs both arms upwards on your shoulders and wraps them around your back until her fingers find the soft downy hair on the nape of your neck and she buries them in it. At the same time, she’s tugging your lower lip gently between hers and you think you like that a lot, you could do this for a very long time and you tilt your head slightly to the side, leaning into the kiss.

You put your hands on the small of Lapis’ back instinctively and suddenly you can feel her belly moving against yours, you can _feel_ her breathe in. Somewhere in the back of your mind registers just how very real Lapis is with her breathing and radiating body warmth right there in front of you, you could probably feel her heartbeat if you put your hand on her chest. You aren’t nervous at all anymore, you’re too flushed with endorphins for that.

You remember to take a breath too because oxygen is still a thing you need. Afterwards you become a little bolder, letting your tongue brush against her lips. Only for a second, but that’s all it takes to spur Lapis on, she’s trying to coax your tongue out again with hers and gives your nape a little scritch _just so_ with one hand and lets her other one run down along your spine slowly.

You cave and part your lips for her, and if Lapis weren’t otherwise occupied, you know she’d smile victoriously now. And, _oh wow_ , you think, kissing her open-mouthed is definitely something else, she doesn’t taste like much of anything you could place, only herself and maybe a hint of beer. When you feel Lapis’ tongue against yours for a moment before it runs over your teeth you might just have to hold her a little tighter. And _then_ she lets out a sound somewhere between a sigh and a satisfied hum that tickles you somewhere else entirely and you respond in turn.

It’s a pleasant ebb and flow, your kiss, and you think about how it’s too much and not enough and of all the other places you want to kiss her and let her kiss you. The way she's wrapped around you seems like a comfortable weight to you, it's as if she's keeping you grounded.

Eventually, Lapis and you pull apart, she looks like she’s about to get started on your neck instead but before she can do so, a shout from somewhere behind you interrupts her.

“Hey Peri! Ruby got into a fight and Sapphire says she wants to go home now, she’ll drive us. You coming or what?”

It's Jasper, an obviously rather inebriated Jasper at that. Internally, you’re screaming but all you shout back at her -while Lapis is smoothing down the now rumpled collar of your flannel and trying to stifle a giggle- is

“I’m coming.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, and as always, comments and concrit are appreciated :)


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fact: I've never been to a motel and I think I'd have a reaction similar to Steven if I ever got the chance, I don't know why. I guess free ice sounds exciting!

The next morning, you’re in hell. Not because of a hangover, you really didn’t get that drunk and your body thanks you by inflicting only a light headache on you. No it’s- you had felt it all day yesterday too, but more low-key, easily ignored. That wasn’t the case anymore. You grab your phone from the nightstand.

[ _Lapis, I’m sorry but I think I will have to sue you after all. You didn’t tell me my tattoo would ITCH LIKE THIS, I’ll see you in court_ ]

You drag yourself out of bed, to get ready for the day and you make it all the way to your coffee maker before Lapis reply makes your phone ping.

[ _Too bad, that was part of the deal ;-)_ ]

Taking a sip from your mug -no milk but five whole teaspoons of sugar- you quickly type your answer while leaning against the kitchen counter behind you.

[ _Let me guess, I’m not allowed to scratch_ ]

[ _Nope! Just let the old skin peel off on its own_ ]

Oh you can just sense her gleeful mirth in that simple “nope”, Lapis had lured you in with the promise of a pretty painting on your back -and getting to spend some time with her- and now you have to pay the price by feeling like a molting reptile.

[ _wow sure sounds like fun. how long will this last?_ ]

[ _hmm, hard to say, it’s pretty big and the bigger the tattoo the worse it’ll itch and the longer it’ll take. Definitely a couple of days, but not longer than until I’m back.]_

Huh? You look questioningly at the dust motes dancing in the streams of sunlight falling through your kitchen window.

[ _Back from what?_ ]

[ _Remember how I told you about tattoo artists sometimes doing these sort of student exchanges with other parlors? I’m a guest artist in a friend’s parlor in Keystone for this week, I’m staying at a motel in the meantime. But don’t worry, I’ll be back just in time for our next appointment. I gotta get to work now, but let’s talk again later!_ ]

Your mood sinks a little. A lot. You had planned on seeing her again tomorrow at work, during one of her cigarette breaks. Maybe you would have asked her out on a proper date then, somewhere no one would interrupt for once when, if, you get to kiss her again.

Right, the kiss, remembering it still made your skin tingle. And you had hounded Jasper for hours last night because she had been the one to cut it short, seriously, you kind of want to move to a remote island with Lapis. Except that would probably suck too since you’re pretty addicted to a stable internet connection. Can’t have it all, you guess.

You finish your morning routine and after contemplating the contents of your fridge, or rather, lack thereof (except for that half finished egg salad sandwich Jasper had left in there one day long ago, “for safekeeping”) you decide to go grocery shopping.

As it turns out, going about your day isn’t so easy when your itching back is constantly trying to get you to scratch it. _Just once_ , it beckons. After a while even random telephone poles you pass on your way to the nearest supermarket start to look utterly compelling to you, like you could just walk up to one and scrape yourself on it like some fucking zoo animal. You don’t do that of course, you stay strong, for Lapis.

You make your round through the narrow aisles, sidestepping mothers with grocery carts and whining children and then proceed to the check-out line, your basket now full with...well yes, there is a lot of junk food and soda in there but also _some_ staples. Even after years of dedicated training your body still needs some actual nutrition. You briefly wonder if Lapis likes to cook at all, she’d mentioned that she’s a vegetarian but while you’re not really a bacon-worshipper yourself you wonder what that’s like.

The rest of the afternoon passes uneventfully, after you’ve made the trip back home -now packed with bags- and stored your purchases away, you settle down in front of your computer, to complete a quest or two in current gaming endeavors.

Your phone pings several times during the day, each time it’s Jasper sending you another one of those godawful minion memes, she doesn’t care for them but she knows you hate them with a passion. You roll your eyes at one that says “You’re one in a minion” and ignore your phone after that until -at around 8 PM- you get another text from Lapis:

[ _Hey Peridot are you around right now? I could use your help if yes_ ]

[ _Yeah I’m here, what’s the matter_ ]

[ _I’m back at the motel and super bored, but in the lobby they have this shelf with scifi movies you can borrow, have any educated recommendations for me?_ ]

[ _What makes you think I’d be someone to have educated opinions on scifi movies?_ ]

[ _Well I know you like Alien, and I know you have a giant tattoo of outer space, so_ ]

You make a weird half groan, half laughing sound.

[ _You got me there. Hm I don’t know what they have but I like John Carpenter’s The Thing?_ ]

[ _No not that one :o I’ve seen it and didn’t like it, the dog dies_ ]

Of course, the dog dies.

[ _So the gallons of fake blood and innards don’t bother you but you draw the line when the dog dies?_ ]

[ _Duh, it wasn’t the dog’s fault those humans started messing with frozen alien gunk_ ]

[ _Well that. Actually makes some sense. What’s your favorite crappy scifi movie then? Why don’t you rewatch that?]_

[ _It’s Contact, and they don’t have that one :(_ ]

[ _Contact? Isn’t that the one where Jodie Foster gets a phone call from like, Betelgeuse? Also Matthew Mcconahey. Mconaughey. Whatever. Is in it and I don’t like his douchey 90s golden retriever mug, sorry_ ]

[ _If I hadn’t known you’re gay before I’d definitely know now haha. I dunno, I like the story and Jodie Foster is kind of a babe. Also geez Peridot, now I still don’t know what to watch, I think the clerk behind me is starting to look at me weird._ ]

Going through a list of movies you've watched in your head you try to think of one Lapis might like too.

[ _Ok ok, hm what about The Fifth Element?_ ]

[ _Now we’re talking! I think I’ve seen half of it before at someone’s house party ages ago but I was super drunk so I barely remember anything. I’ll give it a try!_ ]

[ _Hope you like it, I haven’t seen it in forever either, maybe I should rewatch it some time too_ ]

Lapis doesn’t reply and you think the conversation is over for now, you set down your phone and stare at the paused fighting scene of your game for a moment, suddenly not interested in shooting space zombies anymore. The sappy romantic part of your brain -that you’d like to cram into a very small box and shove under your bed- wants to drive all the way to Lapis’ motel and watch the movie together with her. But of course that’s not feasible, it’s a several hour long trip and you don’t even have a car. And it might be a weird thing to do, you guess.

You’re about to get up from your swivel chair to make yourself a quick dinner when your phone beeps to life once more.

[ _Hey Peridot, do you have anything planned for tonight?_ ]

You raise your eyebrows, a little mystified at Lapis question.

[ _No?_ ]

[ _I thought maybe we could watch this movie together?_ ]

[ _But aren’t you in Keystone? How am I supposed to get there?_ ]

[ _No silly, I mean we could both try to start it at the same time and then watch it like that? Sorry, that was probably a dumb idea_ ]

[ _No that actually sounds fun, I’m in_ ]

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lapis and you develop a routine during the week. While you’re both at work she would sometimes send you pictures of her most recent tattoo pieces, all of them in her old school style and you would give your opinion on the motives people chose to put on their bodies permanently. There’s the classics like sailing ships and anchors and stylized roses but also things so seemingly odd you wonder about the stories behind them, like a mantis fighting with a stag beetle, a sheep riding a convertible and some kind of greek marble statue being overgrown by vines. Some really are quite ridiculous but Lapis turns them into small pieces of art all the same, they kind of make you wish you had stories worth to tell on your skin too.

In the evenings the two of you settle on a scifi movie and try to start it simultaneously, you never get it one hundred percent right -one of you always being slightly behind the other- but still it’s good enough and together you watch Independence Day, Blade Runner, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Men in Black. All in all a pretty mixed bag but you care more about bantering back and forth with Lapis via text when one of you has something to criticize or otherwise comment on anyways.

You’re pretty glad for the distraction from your itching back your movie nights provide you with. It’s not so bad during the day at work, when you don’t have time to think about it but as soon as you’re home again it tries to barrel its way to the front of your mind again. Lapis was right though, by the end of the week, the itching has diminished a lot and your skin has almost finished coming off in gross flakes, like after a bad sunburn. You try not to think about the fact that you’ll have to go through the process again, after your second session.

On Saturday -Lapis' last night at the motel- you decide to rewatch Alien.

You type something to Lapis after a scene where the creature drags one of the soon-to-be-dead spaceship crew members off into a dark air vent.

[ _you know, it always kind of pisses me off how bad everyone is at dealing with the alien._ ]

[ _are you telling me you’d be better at being trapped in a spaceship with that thing than Ellen fucking Ripley?_ ]

[ _No of course not, I guess the root of the problem is the ship itself, honestly, if I was in charge of designing space ships I’d make sure they’re better lit, less cluttered with pipes and cables and none of those air vents that are just waiting to become a death trap. Who even came up with that]_

 _[I dunno, Hollywood set designers trying to make a scary movie? I get your point though, if we ever go to space I hope we have responsible people like you in charge making our ships 100% alien monster safe haha_ ]

You look at your TV screen briefly when another crew member starts screaming in panic, but one more text from Lapis distracts you again.

[ _Okay now I’m wondering about how long we would survive against one of those monsters though. I’m thinking maybe 3 minutes? I mean, you with your skills for fixing small electronic devices and my tattoo needles._ ]

You chuckle at the idea of blasting hordes of nasty aliens with a flamethrower together with Lapis.

[ _Oh I wouldn’t write off your tattooing know-how so fast. iirc the aliens live in a matriarchy, like ants? Maybe all it ever wanted is one of those heart shaped tattoos with “Mom” written on it_ ]

You can almost feel the snort in Lapis’ next reply.

[ _Peridot. I've said it before but you’re a dork_ ]

Both of you go back to watching the movie. Lapis would be back from Keystone soon but now you don’t feel only anticipation anymore. Something ugly has wormed it’s way into your mind too. Anxiety and doubt. Because during the entire week, neither you nor Lapis had brought up the kiss you’d shared outside the warehouse club last Saturday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you're confused as to how Contact would be Lapis' fave trashy scifi movie or how she could think Jodie Foster is a babe in it I have prepared this handy graphic that might clear things up: [link](http://s4.postimg.org/5x3dsogfx/gaynerd.jpg) Look at that determination to not let anyone ~~break your stuff~~ take away your funding. 
> 
> Also damn now I want an AU where Peridot is a nerdy SETI scientist (except maybe a little more Mulder-esque like, Jasper, it's aliens, for real this time!!!!) who gets a phone call all the way from somewhere behind Vega, turns out it's from Lapis and they start the first intergalactic interspecies long distance relationship. Also there's no Matthew Mcconaughey.
> 
> Ok enough of that, as always, thanks for reading and comments & concrit (& opinions on crappy or not crappy scifi movies) are appreciated :)


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh wow, oh boy, here we go

A car passes by on the street outside your window, the headlights briefly illuminating everything in your room before it falls into a blue-ish darkness once more. You glance over at the red LCD display of the alarm clock on your nightstand.

11:16 PM

Not late at all, at least not for your messed up sleep schedule. Yet here you are, laying in your bed and staring at your ceiling. You had felt kind of restless all day and somehow convinced yourself that trying to sleep would be the solution to that. But of course it wasn’t, your mind keeps wandering and wandering to make up for your body staying motionless. Except, “wandering” was the wrong word to describe what’s going on in your head, you mostly only think of one thing; your second tattoo appointment with Lapis tomorrow after work.

She’d likely finish the piece, and then? Forget about you? Greet you politely when you pass each other on the street? Maybe you could stay friends, you had a lot of fun talking with her and arguing with her about what’s really up with Area 51 after watching noted shitty blockbuster movie _Independence Day_ , among many other things. You can’t help but smile at the memory of that particular -entirely text-based- conversation:

[ _look, all I’m saying is, the US military had agreed to let the crew film at some of their bases, until they found out about the Area 51 references in the script. Sounds suspicious to me_ ]

[ _Peridot oh my god, how do you even know that? Hmu if you ever need a Scully for all that Mulder-ing you’re putting on haha_ ]

You hadn’t only talked about bad scifi movies with Lapis, you’ve learned that her favorite food is vegetarian sushi, that she actually still plays Pokemon (Well, so do you. Of course you asked her for a match sometime.) and that she thinks crocs are pretty comfy and don’t deserve the hate. (You disagreed with her on that topic.)

So yes, maybe you could stay friends, but also you know that’s not really what you want either. Once again you think about your kiss and how neither of you had brought it up yet. You know your reason for this, you’re scared of a rejection. You bury your face in the crook of your arm and groan, _why do you have to be such a coward, Peridot_.

But also, you wonder why exactly _Lapis_ hasn’t broached the subject yet. Had she simply forgotten it happened? Impossible, neither of you had been _that_ drunk. So that only left one other option; it had been a spur of the moment thing for her, she isn’t really interested in you and likely even regrets kissing you. The thought hurts, but it’s sobering as well. You press your lips together tightly and fix your ceiling with a hard stare, as you’re now laying more spread-eagle. Tomorrow after your appointment you’d confront Lapis about it. This. Everything.

You pick up your phone from the nightstand to check your messages and refresh tumblr one last time before you might attempt to actually fall asleep. Maybe. The bright glare of the screen blinds you after the muted darkness of your room but after your eyes have adjusted you see you got a text while you were busy wallowing in self-pity. It’s from Lapis.

[ _Hey Peridot, are you awake? I know it’s kinda late and this might sound really weird but I can’t sleep so would you like it if we finish your tattoo right now? I could come pick you up if you tell me your address_ ]

Lapis must have realized how odd her request is, three minutes after she’d sent this -and you hadn’t replied- she’d written you another text:

[ _Sorry, just. Forget I ever wrote this, you’re probably asleep anyways. If you read this in the morning: I’m looking forward to our appointment at 6 today!_ ]

You frown, feeling rather puzzled about Lapis right now. Was this an excentric artist thing? Or just a Lapis thing? You type out your reply while chewing on your lower lip.

[ _I’m awake, actually. If you still want to do this, I’d be game._ ]

Your messaging app tells you she’s still online, and after a moment another text from her appears.

[ _Are you sure? You really don’t have to, though._ ]

You roll onto your belly, propping yourself up with your elbows.

[ _I can’t sleep either, so it’s no problem. Also just one question: Do you usually ask people if you can tattoo them in the middle of the night?_ ]

[ _Nope, that’s a first! Idk yeah it’s a bit weird, not sure what came over me here..._ ]

You tell Lapis your address and she says she’d be there in 10 minutes, since it’s not far from her place. Meanwhile you quickly get up and dressed, after hunting for a random clean t-shirt and some jeans in the depths of your drawers you don’t really have time for anything else to make yourself look more presentable. Figuring this’ll have to do you’re out the door and waiting for Lapis’ on the sidewalk in front of your small condo building. It’s started to rain and although it’s only a light drizzle, you’re glad Lapis keeps her 10 minute promise, you only had to wait a minute or two until a car stops next to you. It’s a tiny Fiat 500 and there’s no doubt this is Lapis’ car because it’s bright blue. Of course it is.

You greet Lapis after getting in and buckling up and then the two of you are on your way to the parlor.

“I still can’t believe you agreed to this.”, Lapis says, she doesn't look at you because she's busy keeping an eye on the road ahead. 

“And I can’t believe you asked me in the first place, yet here we are.”

Lapis turns the radio off, the cheery chatter from the show’s host apparently annoying her as much as it does you, then she goes on: “Don’t you have to work tomorrow or, err, today?”

“Nah, it’s my free day so don’t worry. Don’t _you_ have to work?”

Lapis shrugs without letting go of the steering wheel, “My first appointment isn’t until 11, perks of being your own boss and everything.”

“Wow, damn, I’m pretty jealous.”

“You say that now but just be glad you don’t have to live with the option to just not get up ever all day. Except you can’t really do that either because you still need things like food and gas.”

“I’ll take that over elderly people wanting a refund for their ten year old behemoth computers because they downloaded every toolbar virus out there on the internet and can’t see the actual website anymore anytime you know.”

Lapis dutifully stops at a red traffic light even though you are the only people around on this deserted intersection. There's a short silence while you both watch it to turn green.  

“Have you ever found anyone’s weird porn folder while fixing their computer?”, Lapis asks you out of the blue. 

You cover your mouth with your hand for a moment, feigning shock at her scandalous question.

“Lapis, I’m a professional! Of course I treat my customer’s privacy with utmost respect.” you answer her with a good deal of sarcasm.

“Well?”

“Okay fine, I’ll give you two words: Licking. Doorknobs.”

“Yikes.”

“Now it’s my turn though, what’s the weirdest tattoo you’ve ever done?”

“Hmm, hard to say. I haven’t been in the business long enough to have any real bombs for you. Greg could probably tell you some better ones but for now my weirdest one was the guy who wanted a bear sleeping in a hammock, but his most important criteria was that the hammock be drawn in a way so it looks like it’s suspended from his nipples.”

“Wow…that. Sure is something. Sounds plenty weird to me."

Lapis stops the car then, she’s parked it on the side of the road right in front of the parlor, you get out and after Lapis has unlocked the entrance door the two of you hurry inside to get out of the misty spray of the rain.

You can’t say the parlor looks any different after midnight than it does during the day, everything is just the same but still it seems odd to be here right now, like you’re not supposed to, in the same way you aren’t supposed to be in a mall after closing time. Or a library.

Lapis doesn’t seem to be bothered by her strange business hours, she’s already made her way to her room, likely preparing her tools and paints and you follow her, but only to the doorstep.

“Mind if I use your bathroom while you get ready?”, you ask.

“Not at all, it’s on the other side of the hallway, the door to your left.” Lapis doesn’t even look up from her paint caps on the table.

Somehow you aren’t surprised that both the toilet roll holder and the toilet brush holder are fancy looking artisanal bronze dragon statues. You have a feeling this might be Amethyst’s doing but you can’t be sure. Either way, it doesn’t matter, you’re not here for the toilet, instead you stand in front of the sink and splash your face with some cold water from the faucet.

A pair of wide and somewhat scared looking eyes stares back at you from the mirror. You haven’t forgotten about your plan to tell Lapis about your....feelings. You could barely even think the word, this definitely wouldn’t be easy, you take a deep breath to calm down at least a little. However, you decide it’s wisest to wait until after she’s finished tattooing you, which gives you a short reprieve, one you take gladly. Turning off the still running faucet again you leave the bathroom and its dragons behind and walk into Lapis’ room again, she’d left the door open for you.

You notice that Lapis isn’t wearing a dress for the first time since you met her, she’s opted for some comfy dark grey sweatpants and a shirt with a cartoon shark on it, you almost feel overdressed in your plain jeans suddenly.

“Ready for round two?”, Lapis says and puts on some new black rubber gloves, she lets go of the stretched material so it makes a loud _snap_ sound against her wrist.

“Did you have to put them on like this, now I feel like you’re about to dissect me.”

Lapis sighs melodramatically, “Oh no, you’ve seen through my evil plan, the real reason why I lured you in here at the dead of night.”

You yawn, it’s a real one but also the perfect reaction. “Lapis, I slight breeze could probably knock you over, somehow that makes it hard for me to believe you’re a secret murderer.”

“Psh, that’s what they all say at first, also, rude! Okay anyways, do you want to get started now?”

She’s picking up her needle and you get rid of your t-shirt unceremoniously and unclasp your bra once more before laying down on the cot in front of you. Just like the last time you were here. Since Lapis would only add more coloring, she doesn’t need to apply a stencil again and could get started right away.

She’s brushing her fingertips over your back, “Hm yes, it’s healed nicely.” and then her needle comes alive again with a loud buzz. “Ready?”

You breathe in, “Yes.”

This time you know what to expect but still the moment the needle comes into contact with your skin for the first time again almost makes you jolt, the white hot electric pain burning and stinging on your back. You already know the trick to take a breath when Lapis stops to readjust or pick up more ink and slowly let it out when you feel her weight on you again this time and it makes things somewhat easier.

“No ABBA this time?”, you mumble during one of those times Lapis has to stop for an ink refill.

“No, not this time…”, she sounds lost in thought, probably looking at her work so far and where to continue next, you can almost feel her gaze. 

Then she’s on you again and like during your last session, you completely lose track of time, eventually you’re kind of lost in trance or something like that, it sounds strange, considering that you’re in a lot of pain right now, but your mind goes pleasantly blank and soon there’s only the perfectly synced rhythm of Lapis’ hands and needle, your back muscles tensing and relaxing and your steady breathing, it feels intense but also oddly...calming? You wonder if this is why some people get kind of addicted to having more and more tattoos covering their bodies. 

After what you think has been a long time, you hear the clatter of her needle as Lapis puts it down on the steel trolley next to her.

“I need your input again Peridot, do you want me to finish this monster or call it a day?” Lapis’ voice is a bit hoarse after not talking for so long, you think she might have gotten a little lost in her work too, just like you have in enduring it.

You take a moment to relax your whole body completely. “Let’s finish it.”

“Alright.”, she simply says but you think you can sense a small smile tugging at her lips. And then she sprays you with that wonderfully cooling disinfectant on your back again, it feels so nice on your burning skin it could be fucking angel’s tears for all you know and you can’t help but let out a content sigh.

“Sometimes I feel almost bad for inflicting so much pain on people with my profession.”, Lapis says, but her tone isn’t overly serious.

You chuckle and turn your head to the side, and rest your cheek on the back of one hand. “But only almost.”

“Yeah, only almost. Maybe I could have been an axe murderer after all.”

“I like you better as a great tattoo artist.”

“You do know that kissing my ass won’t make the rest of this any less painful, right?”, Lapis says, then she ruffles your hair. You’d been so physically close to her for probably over an hour now but _this_ is what makes you blush. Great.

“Bring it on then.”

The pain is too much this time for you to fall into that almost-trance state again, your skin is raw now and you start hating Lapis’ needle with a vengeance, when it moves over one of the bumps of your spine a pained groan escapes you before you can stop it.

“You have to tell me if you want to stop.”, Lapis sounds worried.

“No, go on.” You grit your teeth.

“We’re almost finished, only the white highlights are left, you’re doing really good Peridot.”

It’s a little embarrassing but her encouragement helps you power through the finish stretch somehow and after what feels like an eternity her tattoo needle falls silent for good, you want to cry.

“It’s done.”, Lapis nearly whispers. She carefully wipes away any excess ink one last time and then sprays you with more disinfectant. “Do you think you can stand up?”

“Yeah.” You take your time to do so, though, not trusting your muscles after keeping still for so long. After you’ve gotten up slowly you watch Lapis stretching languidly on the rollable stool on which she’d sat while hunching over you.

“Trouble with back pains?”, you say sarcastically -but without bite- as she tries to get the kinks out of her spine.

“Uh-huh, like you have _nooo_ idea.”

Your eyes fall on the big standing mirror on the other side of the room and you make your way over there. Lapis promptly stops her little gymnastics session to watch you instead. You know she’s waiting for your verdict.

You don’t think you have one for her, though, because you’re speechless. It looks just like the space painting she’d showed you in her manila folders on the day you had first met her. You step a little closer to get a better look at the details, your eyes wide in wonder. The colors -black, purple, a dark steely blue and some hazy green for the nebula- look vibrant and somehow so _alive_ there on your skin. The white dots for the stars seem to pop out in contrast to the darker background and the black outlines are perfectly even and straight.

“Lapis, it’s beautiful. To be honest, I can’t believe I was just your guinea pig because this already looks like a masterpiece to me, I’ll be happy to have this on my skin for the rest of my life.”

You kind of want to stare at it some more but eventually you turn toward Lapis again.

“I’m so glad you like it, it means a lot to me.”

Lapis had stood up and walked over to you while you were busy admiring her art, she’s holding a roll of saran wrap and some tape now and you know what comes next.

You turn your back toward her so that you’re standing between her and the mirror, facing it. Suddenly you feel a little self-conscious and you close your eyes so you wouldn’t have to look at your reflection.

Since she’s done it countless times before it doesn’t take Lapis long to tape the wrap securely over your fresh tattoo, the crinkling sounds from the plastic stop soon enough but Lapis doesn’t step back from you yet. She’s standing entirely too close to you, you think you can hear her breathing, she leans forward even further and then time stops completely as she kisses the nape of your neck.

For a blissful moment you simply enjoy the sensation of her soft lips but then your brain sputters and stumbles over itself in surprise. Your eyes snap wide open.

“Lapis?!”, it comes out sounding kind of offended, not at all what you intended and you feel bad instantly because Lapis stops and steps back so fast you think she’d burned herself on your skin.

You turn around to face her -suddenly feeling rather awkward because you’re still holding up your unclasped bra to your chest with your crossed arms- and then it just, spills out of your mouth like verbal diarrhea, oh god, oh no.

“Lapis, I, what? First you ask to kiss me outside the warehouse, and it’s great but then you don’t bring it up for a week, I thought you regretted it and that you only want to be friends with me, which would be okay too -it hurts you to say this- so I didn’t say anything either, but now you did it again.”, you have an urge to gesticulate wildly but unless you want to stand topless in front of Lapis, your hands are still tied.

“I don’t know Lapis, I’m so confused right now. Where do we even stand? Where do _you_ want us to stand?”, You stare at the checkered floor in front of her feet. “I really need to know because if this is over for you now I’ll just. Go. But as for me, I really like you, Lapis. Like-like you.”

Your mind finally catches up to your mouth and your face heats up in embarrassment over everything you’d just said. You’d bolt right now but walking around outside at night without a shirt on doesn’t sound too thrilling to you either, so instead you look up at Lapis again.

She runs her hand through her own hair and sighs, she’d set down the saran wrap and the tape on the wooden table next to her. “God why do I always do this, I’m such an ass, Peridot.” Lapis fiddles with her own hands, then she goes on. “I just...I guess I scare myself sometimes and then I don’t know what to do, that’s probably why I’ve been sending you these mixed signals, I’m sorry. And. I really like you too, Peridot.”

Her smile is small and a little unsure and for once it’s you who initiates things, you close the short distance between her and you and kiss her deeply. It gets kind of sloppy and a little messy but you don’t care, it’s the middle of the night and you’re standing in Lapis room under the glare of the ceiling neon lamps, your back covered in saran wrap of all things and you couldn’t be any happier.

Lapis has cupped your face in her hands and when you eventually pull apart, you do so slowly, gradually, neither of you wanting to break the contact completely, when you finally do, Lapis is smiling at you broadly, you love the way it gives her these tiny crinkles at the corner of her eyes. A moment later, however, it softens somewhat and then she’s looking downwards, one eyebrow raised. In amusement? Puzzled, you follow her line of sight and a second later you squawk entirely undignified.

You had forgotten to hold your bra in place and now it’s halfway out of place, barely covering you anymore. Lapis had been eyeing the goods. One more minute of making out and it would have likely said goodbye completely. You scramble to put it back on properly but all you manage is struggling with it clumsily until Lapis takes pity on you.

“Hold on, let me help you.” She steps around you, puts the strap that’s fallen off your shoulder into place again and closes the clasp over the saran wrap in a matter of moments. Afterwards Lapis leaves you be for now as she gets started on cleaning her equipment, meanwhile you silently curse your own ineptitude and also you pick up your t-shirt that you had discarded on the old recliner in another corner of the room what feels like ages ago. Still, it's hard to suppress that goofy grin which had plastered itself all over your face.

Lapis speaks up again from her spot in front of the table a minute later, she's packing her needles away into a metal box, “I don’t know about you but I feel like I’ve already committed myself to an all-nighter here anyway, do you want to come along to my place after I’m finished here and have some coffee or tea with me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you may have noticed by now, I am but a humble monkey punching keys at random here haha. 
> 
> Also, um, how would you guys feel about the rating going up in the next chapter. Just. Hypothetically. 
> 
> And as always, thanks for reading and leave me a comment if you want to :)


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> quick, take this before I chicken the fuck out
> 
> (also, about a third of this was written while I could faintly hear my upstairs neighbor listen to the Sunday mass on their TV/radio. SIN) 
> 
> ((Yes they do the do in this one, if you'd rather skip that, scroll down to the break line))

The short car ride to Lapis’ flat passes in a blur, you probably couldn’t describe the way if asked. The rain had become heavier while you were in the parlor, it’s now a proper downpour and it doesn’t seem to abate anytime soon, you focus on the raindrops accumulating and running down the windshield in front of you before the wipers could swipe them away and the cycle began anew.

It’s after 2 AM now, and still you aren’t tired at all, the opposite even. Sleeping is the last thing on your mind right now as you sneak a sideways glance over to Lapis behind the steering wheel.

She stops the car on the parking lot next to the apartment building where she lives, it’s not far from here to the front door of the house and although the two of you run, you end up soaked from the rain in a matter of moments.

“Why do I always get wet when I hang out with you.”, you grumble while Lapis and you climb the stairs to her flat door. You realize your mistake a second later when Lapis giggles.

“In before ‘ _That’s what she said_.’” But of course it was too late, now your mind had gone to the gutter as well.

Coffee with Lapis. At 2 AM. In her flat. Where no one could interrupt you two unless some fucking burglar decided today _had_ to be the day to steal her prized...whatever beloved possessions Lapis has in her flat. You’d find out soon enough because you’re standing in front of her door now and wait for Lapis to unlock it. She lets you in and immediately answers your unasked question whether it would be “Coffee” or just actual coffee tonight by backing you against the door after she’d closed it behind her. She’s kissing you urgently a second later and you’d be all about that except, you hiss in pain. Lapis stops to look at you, half worried, half confused.

“Tattoo”, you offer lamely.

“Oh, oops.”, Lapis looks a little embarrassed by herself, she’d forgotten in the heat of the moment.

“It’s…” Lapis pulls you forward a few steps until you’re standing in the middle of the tiny hallway. Apparently you hadn’t ruined the mood for her at all -thank god- because her lips are on your neck now, she’s kissing the soft skin right under the side of your jawbone. You remember to finish your sentence “...Okay.”, before tilting your head to give her better access. Her damp hair tickles you until you break out into goosebumps and a shudder runs through you. Lapis on the other hand, is pleasantly warm, you realize when you slip your hands under her shirt, letting your fingers run over her sides and belly tentatively. Suddenly Lapis bites and sucks on your neck, where first she'd only used her lips and tongue she's now leaving hickeys. You really wish you could lean against the door again, you need something to brace yourself against, instead you hold onto Lapis tighter, clutching the fabric of her shirt when you groan.

Then Lapis pulls away but before you can protest she murmurs: “Bedroom.”

She could have said “tax declaration” with that low, breathy voice and you’d have had the same reaction still. Something in you tightens, excitedly. And nervously.

You let her guide you into the room to your right. Lapis doesn’t turn on the light and there’s no need to, opposite to the door is a large floor to ceiling length window, the shutters over it halfway closed so the streetlight outside paints stripes on Lapis, you and the wall. It’s still raining heavily outside, storming now even, as a flash of lightning confirms. The only other thing you really notice right now is Lapis bed, it’s big, definitely bigger than yours and the dark blue sheets look rather inviting.

Lapis gently nudges you toward it so you shuck off your shoes and sit down on it, scooting backwards until your back meets one of the pillows, you carefully lean against it and it’s soft enough to not hurt your fresh tattoo. Lapis doesn’t follow suit however, she’s still standing at the foot of the bed, it’s making you feel awkward but then your eyes go wide because she starts to undress. It’s not a strip-tease, far from it, all her movements are with simple purpose but not rushed. First she steps out of her sweatpants, then she starts pulling her t-shirt off over her head and as Lapis exposes more and more of her belly in the process you outright gawk at her.

On her stomach she has a large tattoo of an octopus, it’s dark grayscale and its many arms extend upwards to her ribcage and down to the middle of her inner thighs, the creature has been lovingly detailed, from the textures on its skin to the many suckers running along the tentacles, it looks incredible but also kind of ominous. You’ve been so enthralled by it, it’s only now that you realize Lapis isn’t wearing a bra, she’s dropped her shirt to the ground and her chest is bare, her breasts are small enough to not need one, barely a handful each. To you they look perfect.

The last garment to go are her panties and she takes those off too, without so much as a hint of self-consciousness. You can see the octopus tattoo in its entirety now, its head ends just above the dark patch of hair between her legs. Some time ago you had wondered what Lapis looks like naked with all her tattoos, now that you can see them. Her. And the way the streetlight in combination with the half-closed shutters paints her in straight horizontal stripes of pale light you think you aren’t ready for the sight. Yet you can’t look away -not that you want to-, her gaze keeps you.

Then Lapis climbs onto the bed and comes toward you, making you swallow nervously. She must have sensed your current state of mind because she asks, “Are you alright? You know we don’t have to do this.”

“No, no I want to, a lot, it’s just..”, _your everything_. You try playing it cool and point at Lapis’ belly, “well, I could make a comment about releasing the kraken, but I don’t want you to throw me out.”

Lapis looks at you incredulously for a moment before she snickers. “I kind of signed myself up for those when I picked this motive.” She shifts even closer, until you have to make room for her between your legs. “Let me know if you change your mind and want to stop.”

You’re still a jittery mess but Lapis helps you with that, first she extricates your hands from the bedsheets, you hadn’t even noticed how tightly you’ve been gripping the fabric.  
You take the hint and loosely wrap your arms around her back instead, still hyper-aware of how very undressed Lapis is, soon you forget about that too, though, because Lapis kisses you again, slow and without hurry. Having something to do helps you relax and you become bolder after a while. You let your hands roam freely over her back, at the same time, you deepen the kiss and Lapis seems to appreciate it, she sighs softly before running her tongue first over your lips, then your teeth. Lapis’ and your breath mingles and something heavy-hot in you quietly starts pleading for _more_.

Lapis shifts suddenly, pressing closer to you and then she breaks the kiss. You open your eyes again and it’s only now that you realize where your hands have strayed, one is still resting at the small of her back but the other one had wandered to Lapis’ bare chest, you’ve been stroking and kneading her small breasts and Lapis is reacting to your touches, her eyes closed and mouth slightly parted. She looks at you again to see why you’d stopped and her pupils are _huge_.

You feel much too warm suddenly, not even nervous anymore -or well, at least not _very_ nervous. Lapis leans backwards a little, her hands brush over your belly briefly and then she starts pulling your t-shirt up over your head, she’s careful not to disturb the saran wrap clinging to your back too much and then she throws the garment out of sight, your glasses have been knocked slightly askew by that and you quickly right them. You undo your bra yourself, you’ve done it so many times before in front of her, it had barely fazed you anymore but now you blush deeply when you notice Lapis’ hungry gaze on you. She doesn’t touch you yet though, instead she wants to finish undressing you first, your jeans are quickly unbuttoned and discarded -you have to help Lapis by lifting your hips and wiggling around a bit- and then you’re down to your pair of humble boyshorts.

You haven’t shaved your legs in about a week, they’re covered in a prickly stubble and you want to die a little but Lapis doesn’t seem to be bothered, she’s focused on your underwear, a tell-tale small dark spot on it, in particular. She reaches out to put her hand over it, she doesn’t even put any pressure on it and still you try to lift your hips shamelessly for some relief for your growing arousal. Lapis and you had barely even gotten started and already your touch-starved body is going haywire. She tugs your shorts down over your legs, exposing your curly dark pubes and then the two of you are both naked.

Lapis leans in close again and having her lay on you without any fabric in between is a whole different experience, she’s warm and you can directly feel her every movement now. Your legs tangle and then Lapis and you start some kind of game, testing each other’s bodies for reactions. Lapis shudders when you nip at the soft skin right above her collarbone and you can feel her heart beating faster against your mouth when you shift your thigh closer to her to let her grind against it. After a while she moves her head downwards, cutting off your access to her neck.

A moment later a moan escapes you, she’s started kissing and licking one of your nipples while caressing the other one with her fingers, you never really bothered with your breasts when...you took care of yourself but having someone else touching them like this feels incredible. Her velvety tongue drawing lazy circles on your skin makes you cry out again.

Eventually you can’t pinpoint singular touches anymore, the two of you simply kiss and stroke each other all over, you arch and writhe and move against Lapis who does so in turn on top of you but still it doesn’t give you any relief, the tension inside you only seems to build up endlessly.

Then Lapis stops abruptly, she’s breathing heavily -so are you- and her eyes are half-lidded, before you can ask if there’s a problem she gently takes your right hand and moves it toward her crotch. You don’t have time to think but you extend your index and middle finger instinctively and somewhere in your mind it registers that _oh, wow she’s really wet_. Lapis rolls her hips against you, you can feel the nub of her clit hidden between her folds and Lapis moans at that, it’s the first one you’ve heard from her and immediately the sound makes you heat up even more.

She’s had enough of teasing herself with your hand soon however, now she bows her entire body forward, closer to you, and a moment later your fingers have slipped inside her. Lapis sets the pace herself as she starts to move, slow and seemingly without hurry. You don’t know how she stands it but apparently it’s perfect to her, it looks like she’s trying to draw as much pleasure as possible from each thrust and she takes you deep every time. You hazily realize that Lapis is doing all the work herself so you remember to curl your fingers and press down lightly, she’s buried her face against the crook where your neck meets your shoulder but the way she falters for just a moment is all you need. Lapis never speeds up, keeping it slow and steady instead, still you think you can feel her tension growing with each push and pull of her hips, your bellies only almost touch right now and you wouldn’t be surprised to feel a jolt of electricity discharge over the small distance between them.

You stroke the hair on the back of her head with your free hand and suddenly her previously even movements become erratic, Lapis doesn’t make a lot of noise when she finally comes, she only sighs and her breathing hitches but her body still reacts, she clutches your sides and her toes curl, she doesn’t stop moving quite yet even when you can feel her clenching around your fingers -which makes you groan in return- as she tries to draw out her orgasm as long as possible.

Eventually, Lapis stills and you carefully pull out of her, wetness now coats your fingers but before you can dwell on that, Lapis takes your hand again, says, “here, let me.” and unceremoniously sucks them clean. God, seeing her do that, and the look of her, deeply relaxed and brimming with afterglow almost does you in right there. You’re this close to touching yourself in front of her for some relief because you’re about to burst with need.

“Lapis…”, you manage, barely louder than a whisper. And finally Lapis takes pity on your miserable self, she leans forward again and her reply is murmured against your heated skin “I’m here.”

She starts trailing a line of wet kisses down on your belly but when she’s reached your navel, she stops once again. Instead, she puts one hand to each of your knees to get you to spread your legs, you comply immediately because you’ve cottoned on to what Lapis is about to do and after a another torturous minute of her lightly dragging her nails over your inner thighs and getting settled between them she presses her first kiss against you. And at first it only stays at kisses, you don’t think she understands the urgency here, you arch your hips upwards and try to get more of her that way.

It works, Lapis slips out her tongue and drags it along your slit once, she actually has to hold you down as your back lifts clean off the bed for a moment. You moan openly now, too far gone to feel any shame and your sounds seem to spur Lapis on, she’s licking you in earnest now, nudging the tip of her tongue inside you before going back to running it back and forth over your wet folds in a steady rhythm. Somehow you manage to look down and you get a glimpse of Lapis mouth working against you. It’s hard to say if it’s that sight or the way she circles in on your clit that makes you come, you’d been wound up so tightly, it could very well have been the former. You slump back and let your orgasm take its course, your legs quiver as all the built up tension in your body unspools at once, your last moan comes out choked. Lapis lets you ride it out completely, lets you press your heels against her lower back, her tongue giving you another burst of pleasure, and another, until she stops and you remember to breathe again.

Lapis licks her lips and lets you calm down for a minute before moving upwards until she’s nuzzling your temple. You think she’s about to lay down and snuggle up to your side but you stop her.

“Hold on, can you let me, um, change position? I don’t want to fall asleep on my back.”. That’s the first thing you tell the girl after she eats you out? One hell of a smooth operator you are.

Lapis gives you space so you can roll over onto your belly, then she settles down next to you, spooning you loosely and wrapping one arm around you low enough on your back not to touch the saran wrap.

“You know, if a customer asked me if they can have some wild sex right after getting their tattoo I’d probably tell them absolutely not. But. Well.”

“Damn and here I thought I was more than a customer to you.”, you say in mock-hurt, then you add, “At least I got served well.”

“Hope you’ll come again soon.”

“Lapis?”

“Hm?”

“It’s too late for your awful smutty puns, give me a break.”

Lapis chuckles, then she nestles closer and pulls the blanket up to cover both of you. “Alright. Goodnight, brave warrior.”

You don’t know how late it is now, it feels like a lifetime ago when Lapis had texted you yet it couldn’t have been more than a few hours. It doesn’t take you long to fall asleep, not with everything that’s happened, and Lapis even breathing next to you.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next morning, you wake up before Lapis does. Again, you’ve drooled all over the pillow. Lapis pillow this time. Oh well. Slowly, as slow as a glacier you turn around, you don’t want to wake her but as it turns out, you shouldn’t have worried, Lapis sleeps like a rock and doesn’t even stir once.

Last night’s storm has passed, you note as you look out of the window, it’s sunny now and in the late morning light you can now take the rest of her room in. The wall opposite to you is plastered with prints, most of which you have no idea who painted them, the only ones you recognize are a Van Gogh and a Hopper, but that’s about it. Actually that’s not entirely true, you also recognize the kitschy seaside view of Beach City, some guy on the boardwalk paints them and sells them for dirt-cheap, of course Lapis would be the kind of person to buy one of these tourist souvenirs.

You continue looking around, there’s several plants by the window and a bookshelf in a corner -with some picture frames standing on it too, but the photographs are too far away for your prying eyes. Lapis is also tidier than you, but not a neat-freak because there’s a few articles of clothing strewn about, more than the ones her and you had gotten rid of last night.

You look at Lapis again, she’s still asleep and cuddled up to your side, her hair kind of messy and her expression solemn. One of her arms is still draped over you and you take the opportunity to properly look at all the small tattoo motives on it that span from her wrist up to her shoulder, with small distances between them. These always only existed as a collective to you but each one is actually very different from its neighbors, you realize now. There’s lots of sea creatures, mostly common ones like fish or a stingray but also a giant isopod -you’re a little proud of recognizing this weird critter at all. Then she’s also got the Classics covered, a dagger, an eagle, some roses. Next to the roses however you see something odd, you carefully take her arm and turn it around a little, to get a better look.

Yes it’s a flower, of some sort, it’s so crudely drawn it’s impossible to say exactly what kind of flower though. It’s odd to see there in the crook of her elbow, next to so many beautiful pieces, was it some kind of drunk mistake?

You startle suddenly, Lapis has woken up while you had been otherwise occupied and now she’s staring at you staring at her arm.

“See anything you like?”

“They’re all nice, except,”, you tap the skin with the badly drawn flower on it with one finger, “what’s up with this one, sorry but, it doesn’t look….good.”

Lapis takes a look and then she laughs, “Ohhh that one, it’s one of my favorites actually, but you’re right, the artist still has a lot to learn.”

You raise an eyebrow at her and Lapis elaborates, “It’s from Steven, he drew it for me ‘to put on myself’ when he was like seven or so. So I did.”

You snort, “Oh my god, he’s going to be so embarrassed about this story when he’s sixteen or something.”

Lapis stretches languidly, like a lazy cat. “Ehh, I can live with that.”

“Have you ever regretted one? A tattoo, I mean?”

“Not once.” Then her tone gets a little concerned, “What about you?”

You consider the dull ache all over your back, and how you’d have to go through the whole itching skin-shedding process again, and how you’d carry this motive with you for the rest of your life, no matter what. Still you can answer Lapis easily and with a small smile,

“No, no I don’t regret it at all.”, before you pull her in for an ill-advised morning breath kiss.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so, first of all, shout-out to everyone who keeps commenting, you guys are ethereal beings of otherworldly beauty, it's true. Oh and, if you ever feel like telling me about silly AU ideas you have, or your fave SU rarepair (if it's femslash I'm down for whatever tbh) or if you just need to yell about gay rocks from outer space, my tumblr -yes I know, the ol' blue hellsite- is @ lesbianpirates
> 
> One last thing, the next chapter will be an epilogue, so stay tuned for that and as always, thanks for reading :)


	11. Epilogue

_Several months later_

It’s late in the summer and one last heatwave has blanketed the city underneath it, even the nights don’t make the humid air cool down anymore. Fucking global warming, if you could, you’d ditch this planet altogether in a heartbeat, as it stands though, humanity has yet to invent intergalactic space travel ships. So instead, you’re sitting at Lapis’ small kitchen table wearing only boxer shorts and nothing else as well as dining on the finest her fridge and pantry had to offer: soy milk and chocolate cereal.

You’d spent the night here in her flat, that’s a thing that happens often now but sometimes she also stays at your place (somehow you’d managed to learn to keep your former trash heap tidy for Lapis’ sake. Well, not sparkling clean but. Tidy. You think you actually like being able to see your floor. It’s a nice floor.)

There’s no real schedule to this who-sleeps-where thing, sometimes Lapis would meet you at the electronics shop after your shift ends and walk home with you, and sometimes -on slow days- it’s the other way around. You like those times, especially when Pearl is doing paperwork at the parlor again because you love annoying her now. You’ve learned that Amethyst does too and she and you had bonded unexpectedly over that. It’s still odd to you that they -and Garnet- are actually dating. Garnet still mystifies you somewhat, the quiet woman usually stays out of Pearl’s and Amethyst’s bickering and you think you like her plenty, for starters, she’d made the best lasagna you’d ever had when the three of them had invited Lapis and you over for dinner one day. You can always respect a good lasagna.

You snap out of your reverie of pastas past when you hear the bathroom door close. You also lose your way on the labyrinth puzzle printed on the back of the cereal box. Lapis must have gotten out of bed too now. While spooning another mouthful of milk and heavily processed corn slash glucose syrup your eyes fall on your left inner forearm. A couple weeks ago you’d gotten your second tattoo, of course again from Lapis. Now Samus Aran graces your skin along with the patch of outer space on your back. You like how this piece has turned out as well, Samus is wearing her orange and red armor but she’s casually holding her helmet under one arm so her face and blonde hair are visible. Maybe you’ll have some Metroids added around her one day, that would be pretty great in your opinion.

(Amethyst had called you a “nnnnnnerrrrd” after she’d seen the motive but Lapis was all for it, eventually you had found out that talking helps distract you from the pain of the needle and you had talked Lapis’ ear off about Samus’s story and the game she’s from. She’d been your first big love back in the day when you’d been a little kid and played the original game on the NES -a hand-me-down from a cousin who’d lost interest in video games.

…..Yeah, you’re kind of a nerd alright.

You wonder though, what would have happened if you’d suggested this motive on the day you’d walked into Lapis’ parlor, requesting your first tattoo, instead of letting Lapis run her course with her space painting? Would you still sit here at her kitchen table right now? It’s hard to say and your cereal is getting soggy so you continue eating and start on the labyrinth puzzle again.

A moment later Lapis walks into the room, you can’t see her because you’re sitting with your back to the door but the soft pat-pat-pat of her bare footsteps announces her. She doesn’t get started on preparing her own breakfast yet however, instead she stops right behind you and gives you an entirely too cheery “good morning” and a laugh. You’re pretty sure she’s laughing _at_ you.

“mornin”, you answer around another mouthful of cereal, then you swallow and go on, “what’s so funny?”

“Your bedhead. How does your hair even stand up like this? It looks just like how that one guy from Ancient Aliens has it.” Lapis ruffles through it as if to prove her point but likely only succeeding in messing it up even more.

You’re kind of torn between focusing on the labyrinth puzzle in front of you, coming up with a retort and simply enjoying Lapis playing with your hair. Then her hand continues to trail down your bare -and sweaty, ugh- back, over your fully healed first tattoo.

“Remember when we made that deal for me to give you this in return for getting some painting practice? You’d said something like ‘But don’t draw a dick on me’.”

“Sure I do…..so where exactly is this conversation going?”

“Well, it’s not visible at all because I drew it in one of the black patches with black ink as well before filling it all in but technically, there is a dick somewhere in this.”

Of course, Lapis fucking Lazuli, regular victim to self-induced laughing comas with Steven after another successful round of Let’s-make-Peridot-sit-down-on-a-fart-pillow just _couldn’t_ pass the chance to permanently draw a dick on you. She’s right though at least, it’s not visible at all because you’d spent a long time admiring her work in your bathroom mirror in private and never noticed anything off.

You calmly set down your spoon on the table. Then you slowly turn around to face her, you can tell she’s barely containing her laughter.

“Lapis? You’re dead.”

She’s out of the door in a flash and you’re after her a second later, she must have run into the living room because that’s where the giggling is coming from. You’d think of some suitable punishment after you catch her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AND IT'S FINISHED, wow my first ever fanfic, all complete and everything!
> 
> Thanks again to everyone who commented and kudos'd, I'm sure I'd have given up after the first chapter if it hadn't been for you guys, feel free to give me a final verdict, I'd love to hear it :) 
> 
> Thanks for reading and maybe until next time!


End file.
